KWU Men's Basketball Can't Get Past Hot-Shooting Briar Cliff

Anthony Monson could not believe what he was seeing and he certainly didn't like it.
 
Briar Cliff scored 57 points while shooting 63 percent from the field the second half and shot a staggering 44 free throws for the game against Monson's No. 16-ranked Kansas Wesleyan basketball team.
 
The end result wasn't pretty either – a 96-89 loss to the Chargers in the final game of the Kansas Wesleyan Classic on Saturday night inside Mabee Arena.
 
Briar Cliff (4-0) was 17 of 27 from the field and 18 of 25 at the foul line the final 20 minutes after taking a 39-34 lead into intermission. The Chargers were 13 of 19 at the line and shot 52 percent (12 of 23) the first half.
 
"We just couldn't get a stop," Monson said. "We gave up 57 the second half and things just didn't go well for us all night. They were more physical than us, they beat us up inside even though they were smaller.
 
"I can't remember the last time we gave up that many points, that does not happen."
 
The Coyotes (2-2) shot 60 percent the second half (18 of 30) but it wasn't enough to catch up. They were 18 of 26 from the line for the game.
 
"Offensively we found some rhythm the second half but so did they," Monson said. "If you can't get stops that puts a lot of pressure on the offensive end."
 
Matthew Stilwill led Briar Cliff with 31 points and Blake Sindelar had 25. They were a combined 17 of 27 from the field and 18 of 28 at the line.
 
Jun Murdock had another sensational game for KWU finishing with 32 points on 11 of 16 shooting that included 4 of 5 from beyond the arc.
 
KWU led 11-10 with 12 minutes left in the first half but an 11-2 run gave Briar Cliff the lead for good. The Chargers scored the first five points of the second half and later used a 10-2 burst en route to their biggest lead of the game, 53-45 with 12:44 left.
 
The Coyotes managed to stay within striking distance, though. A 10-3 flurry got them within 91-86 with 36.6 seconds left but three more Briar Cliff free throws pushed the deficit to 94-86 with just 13.4 seconds left.
 
"I didn't think we had energy to start the game, it was kind of dead in here," Monson said. "We fell into that trap and dug ourselves a little hole and we just couldn't get out of it."
 
Monson was pleased with one aspect.
 
"We didn't give up, that was the good thing," he said. "We kept battling but at the same time we weren't very tough tonight."
 
Alex Littlejohn had 15 points and seven rebounds, Cade Hale 12 points and Thurbil Bile 11 for KWU but the defensive issues were too much to overcome.
 
"It's a collective group effort and we just weren't very good tonight," Monson said. "We'll have a good film session and we'll get a chance to watch some things and go from there."
 
Up next are significant challenges against Williams Woods on Friday and Peru State on Saturday in the Bethel Classic in North Newton. Friday's game will tip at 5 p.m. and Saturday's at 3 p.m.