Littlejohn breaks KWU's all-time scoring record, but Coyotes fall 73-70 to Avila

The Kansas Wesleyan men could not complete a furious second-half rally in a 73-70 loss to Avila on Saturday afternoon inside Mabee Fieldhouse.

There was a historic silver lining, though, as Alex Littlejohn became the university's career scoring leader. His field goal with 6:18 left in the first half gave him 1,545 points surpassing Gary Cassel's previous record of 1,544 set 70 years ago in 1955.

Littlejohn, a senior forward from Newton, entered the game with 1,533 points after scoring 21 in KWU's loss to Bethel on Wednesday. He had 24 points Saturday.

Next up for Littlejohn is his pursuit of the career rebounding record of 1,149 set by Charles Fiffe in 1950. Littlejohn has 1,106 after grabbing 12 against Avila.

"Al has been a warrior, one of the best to ever put on a KW uniform," KWU coach Anthony Monson said on his postgame radio show. "Obviously scored more points than anybody else has done in the program's history. A hall of famer for sure.

"I'm really happy for him but like he said it's hard to be happy after a game like this."

The contest was one of peaks and valleys for the Coyotes (8-8 overall, 3-7 KCAC). They fell behind 13-6 at the outset but a 15-0 run gave them a 21-15 lead with 11:06 left in the opening half.

The pendulum swung back to Avila, though, as the Eagles outscored KWU 26-12 the rest of the half and led 41-33 at the break.

The Coyotes trailed by 14 twice early in the second half and were down 55-43 with12:40 left when their rally began. A 13-2 burst capped by two Littlejohn free throws got them within 57-56 with 7:51 left.

They finally drew even at 62 on Aiden Leckband's basket at the 5:27 mark but Avila (8-6, 5-4, KCAC) responded with seven unanswered points and led 69-62 with 3:23 left.

KWU got as close as two twice – 70-68 and 72-70 – the final 1:06 but couldn't pull even as turnovers sandwiched a Jayden Hall field goal with 8.5 seconds left. Avila's Brennan Jeffries made one of two free throws with 5.7 seconds left for the game's final point.

"There's only so much you can take from losing," Monson said. "You can talk about 'this is a positive, this is a positive' but at the end of the day you've got to step up and you've got to be man enough to make the shots and make the plays. We needed to do it right now and we're not doing that and it's frustrating. I know the guys are frustrated and I'm extremely frustrated.

"But at the same time there's a lot of season left and we've got to continue to work and battle and figure it out. If we don't it's going to keep going the same way."

KWU shot 44.4 percent for the game (28 of 63) but was 4 of 23 from beyond the 3-point arc. The Coyotes committed 16 turnovers but forced 19 Avila turnovers.

Easton Hunter scored 11 and Leckband had nine for Wesleyan. Joe Kearney and Brionne Williams scored 20 apiece for Avila which shot 50.9 percent (27 of 53).

Wesleyan's three-game road trip continues with a game Wednesday at McPherson starting at 8 p.m. and a game Saturday against Evangel starting at 2 p.m. in Springfield, Mo.