It could have been very easy for the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes to check things in and be on the wrong end of another lopsided decision after trailing by 19 at the half against the Ottawa Braves on Wednesday evening at Mabee Arena. Instead, Coach Chris Fear and the rest of the Coyotes had different plans. The Coyotes put together an incredible second half run, but fell just short in a 92-85 decision to Ottawa.

Wesleyan saw itself down by ten with two minutes to go in the first half after a pair of free throws by Michael Johnson, but two charity tosses by Corey Smith, a Zach Brown triple and four points by Stephen Feighny would send the Braves into the half up 52-33.

The Coyotes, who still remain slightly shorthanded with Krubiel Workie and Jeff Schwerdtfager on the sidelines with injuries, did welcome back Scott Weber who had missed the last three games with a shoulder injury suffered on December 28 against Northwestern Oklahoma State.

Wesleyan (2-18, 0-9 KCAC) came out of the half with a renewed energy taking Ottawa's lead down to 12 points with 18:02 to go on a three by Dylan Briscoe and would again trail by just 12 with 15:19 to go on a Johnson three-point play that made it 59-47.

Ottawa (7-21, 4-5 KCAC) regained a 17-point lead and maintained it at the 11:40 mark on a bucket by Adam Hasty before Wesleyan started to chip away again. A Dane Brinker score, a bucket by Jason Carter, followed by another by Seth Smith got the Coyotes within 11 at 70-59 with 9:51 to go before Colin Nichols scored to break the Wesleyan run.

Aaron Wright scored for the Coyotes to get them again within 11 as both teams traded baskets until Ottawa was able to go back up by 15 with 5:59 to go on a score by Chase Dippel.

Chip, chip, chip, chip, chip said the Coyotes again using a Briscoe triple and a score by Brinker to get within 10 with 4:47 to go forcing an Ottawa timeout. Colby Regier put Ottawa up by 15 again with 3:14 to go before a Seth Smith three got the Coyotes within a dime again at 87-77 with 1:03 left.

Forced to foul, Wesleyan saw Ottawa go up by 13 again on a free throw by Dippel, but a Brinker three and a Brock Borovetz score got the deficit into single digits at 90-82 with 21.3 seconds left. After a pair of free throws by Ottawa, Brinker was fouled on a three, but missed all three free throws with 6.8 to go but Borovetz nailed a three with 2.3 seconds left to get the Coyotes within the final score of 92-85.

Ottawa opened the game scoring the first seven points, and later extended its lead to 16-5 on a layup by Kameron Lindsay with 15:01 to go in the first half. A three-point play by Smith put Ottawa up 19-7 before the Coyotes would respond with a nice run of their own.

A Briscoe three sparked an 11-2 run for Wesleyan that got them back within three at 21-18 with 7:56 left on a bucket by Ty Dean. A triple by Chris Weston for Ottawa and another ranger from Briscoe kept the Coyotes within three with 6:56 to go when Ottawa made another big move.

A 15-2 charge by the Braves that included three straight three-pointers pushed the Braves out to a 39-23 lead with 4:04 to go before the break. A three by Brock Borovetz got Wesleyan's offense back on track as the Coyotes would get back within 10 points with two minutes left on Johnson's free throws.  

Brinker scored a career high 21 points to lead the Coyotes who shot 32-of-76 from the field for 42.1 percent, fueled by a 52-point second half. Briscoe added 15 and Borovetz had 16 for the Coyotes. Ty Dean had eight rebounds to lead the way.

Smith had a 23-point, 12-rebound double-double to lead Ottawa, while Dippel had 16 for the Braves who shot 33-of-67 from the field for 49.3 percent, but cooled off in the second half (43.3 percent) after shooting 54 percent in the first 20 minutes.

The Coyotes are back in action on Saturday as they open the second half of KCAC play at Bethany.