Bethel’s Strong Second Half Pushes Threshers to Win over KWU

NORTH NEWTON – Bethel College shot 65.5 percent and scored 54 second half points as the Threshers knocked off the Kansas Wesleyan Men’s Basketball team 82-75 on Saturday night at Thresher Gym.

The loss ends a 5-game winning streak for the Coyotes as KWU falls to 14-9 overall and 11-7 in the KCAC.

The Coyotes led by 11 at halftime 39-28 and had momentum going into the break after scoring the last six points of the first half.

Bethel used a 7-1 run over the first two and a half minutes of the second half to cut the difference to five points at 40-35. Wesleyan built its lead back up to eight at 47-39 after a three-point play by Brendon Ganaway (SR/Houston, Texas), but Bethel got within a point at 54-53 with 10:34 to go.

Wesleyan would hold the lead, and lead by as many as four several times before Bethel took the lead for good with six minutes left and used a 15-4 run to take a 74-65 lead with 1:49 left. The Coyotes could get no closer the rest of the way.

Ganaway’s bucket with 14:48 left in the first half put the Coyotes up 15-4 and the lead would reach 12 at 16-4 on a Ganaway charity with 13:31 left as Wesleyan opened the game strong.

Bethel got within six at 18-12 before an 8-0 spurt by the Coyotes gave KWU its biggest lead at 26-12 with 6:43 to go in the opening half on a 3 by Peyton Hatter (SO/Andover, Kan.).

The Threshers got within five before KWU scored the final six points of the first half to lead by 11 at the break.

Ganaway led all scorers in the game with 26 points, while AJ Range (JR/Junction City, Kan.) added 17 to go along with nine rebounds. Daekwon Gross (JR/Kansas City, Mo.) had nine in his first start of the season while Hatter added eight. KWU was 25-of-52 from the field for 48.1 percent in the game.

The Coyotes return home for the first time in two weeks on Wednesday as KWU hosts York at Mabee Arena.