Logan McIntire produced a game-leading 24 points, including a quartet of 3-pointers, to lead the Kentucky Wesleyan College men’s basketball team to its eighth straight victory with an 89-61 win over East-West on Thursday night at the Sportscenter.
The 6-foot-5 junior wing, who scored 16 points after intermission, made 8-of-12 shots from the floor and 4-of-6 from 3-point range while also grabbing six rebounds and swiping a pair of steals.
Quentin Toles added 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Panthers (8-2), Eddy Jones Jr. finished with 14 points with four boards, and Kennedy Miles posted 11 points with nine assists and six rebounds.
As a team, Wesleyan commanded the boards on the way to a 52-27 rebounding edge and a 21-10 lead in second-chance scoring. Five players grabbed six rebounds or more apiece.
East-West (0-7) took a brief 6-5 lead on Vasean Daniels’ 3-pointer a little more than three minutes into the game, but consecutive 3s by Jones and Miles sparked a 17-2 scoring run that put the Panthers ahead for good.
KWC head coach Drew Cooper credited his players for coming out early with effort but also noted they didn’t sustain it for the whole game.
“The big start by us and the poor start by them, it really gave our guys some temptation to be like, ‘OK, we’re going to cruise,’ ” Cooper said. “That dynamic, in part, made for some frustrating segments.
“They have some talent. Jaha Jackson is as talented as anyone in our conference, and he plays 40 minutes each game.”
The Phantoms scored 12 of the next 16 points to trim Wesleyan’s lead to 26-20 with 8:57 left in the first half, but 3s from Toles and Jones bookended an 8-0 scoring spurt that pushed KWC’s advantage back to double digits.
McIntire drilled a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to give the Panthers a 47-36 lead at intermission.
Wesleyan opened the second half on a 17-6 scoring tear, capped off by a Jones dunk for a 62-42 advantage with 15:07 left to play.
East-West pulled to within 64-49 on a jumper from Jaha Jackson with 11:40 left, but the Panthers put the finishing touches on the victory with a 23-7 burst — giving KWC its largest lead at 87-56 with 2:33 remaining.
Wesleyan shot 49.2% from the floor, including 12-of-30 from long range (40%), and made 17-of-22 free throws (77.3%) with 24 assists on 30 made baskets and 16 turnovers.
Victor Garrett led East-West with 16 points and six rebounds, while Jackson finished with 15 points. The Phantoms shot 39.7% from the field, 4-of-25 from 3-point distance (16%), and made 3-of-6 foul shots (50%). East-West tallied eight assists on 27 made baskets with 10 turnovers.
Wesleyan will return to action Saturday with a Division I exhibition against Western Kentucky in Bowling Green. The Panthers will then resume action after the holidays with a two-game conference homestand against Cedarville (Jan. 2) and Walsh (Jan. 4).
“We need to get everybody playing their best basketball,” Cooper said of his mindset at practice over the next few days. “We’ve got to ask ourselves, ‘What if Q and Logan weren’t around, and Kennedy, how would we have played? Do we have that next tier of guys playing their best basketball?’
“That’s as much on me as anybody because I haven’t pounded those concepts. What I’m looking for is a remarkable practice tomorrow.”
EAST-WEST36 25 — 61
KENTUCKY WESLEYAN47 42 — 89
East-West (61) — Garrett 16, Jackson 15, Conley 8, Daniels 6, Brown 4, James 4, Patterson 4, Ivory-Jones 2, Tate 2.
Kentucky Wesleyan (89) — McIntire 24, Toles 17, Jones 14, Miles 11, Gray 5, Huyuk 5, Ringo 5, Tsynkevich 4, Bischoff 2, Reed 2.
