KWU Men’s Basketball Holds on to Beat William Woods 81-79

Kansas Wesleyan held off a second half rally by the William Woods Owls on Friday night in the Bethel College Classic for an 81-79 win inside Thresher Gym.
 
The victory bumped the Coyotes to 3-2 on the season heading into Saturday afternoon's tilt with Peru State at 3 p.m. at Thresher Gym.
 
Wesleyan led by 13 points at 60-47 with 12:10 left in the game when William Woods would start its rally. The Owls cut it to seven at 63-56 with 8:52 left, and got within a point at 71-70 with 2:32 to go.
 
Easton Hunter's basket with 2:12 left put the Coyotes up three, but William Woods tied it at 73-all with 1:53 to go. The Owls took a brief 76-75 lead before Alex Littlejohn scored it to put the Coyotes up by a point and Hunter's free throw with nine seconds left put the Coyotes up four at 80-76.
 
The Owls hit a 3-pointer to get within a point with four seconds left, but Jun Murdock hit one of two free throws with two seconds left to give the Coyotes the two-point win.
 
The first half was back and forth and was tied at 24 when the Coyotes made a run. Thurbil Bile's dunk off a steal by Cory Kaplan ignited an 8-0 run for the Coyotes to make it 32-24 with 4:43 to go in the half. The Coyotes pushed the lead out to 15 making it a 18-3 run with 2:33 left on free throws by Murdock.
 
Wesleyan led 44-36 at the break.
 
The Coyotes pushed the lead back out to as much as 14 with 14:17 left in the second half, but could not break free of the Owls. Wesleyan led 65-56 with 8:29 to go marking the last time the Coyotes held a double-digit lead in the game.
 
Littlejohn led the Coyotes with another double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds. He also finished with three assists and three steals. Kaplan added 16, Hunter 12, Murdock 11 and Izaiah Hale had 10 off the bench. The Coyotes were 26 of 49 shooting for 53.1 percent in the game.