LIVE VIDEO
LIVE AUDIO
LIVE STATS

The Kansas Wesleyan men's basketball team continues its season this week on the road at Bethel on Thursday and hosting Tabor on Saturday.

Both games will be streamed live on the KCAC Broadcast Network on kcacsports.com. Live Audio and Live Stats will also be available online at kwucoyotes.com. The games can also be heard locally on the radio on Classic Hits 104.9 FM with Mike Hammett and Justin Dean on the call for the Coyotes.

The young and injury-plagued Coyotes are still in search of their first win in KCAC play, sitting at 2-19 overall and 0-10 in KCAC play. Wesleyan has recently welcomed back Scott Weber and Krubiel Workie from injuries, but still awaits the return of center Jeff Schwerdtfager from a hand injury suffered right before Christmas to return to full strength.

Wesleyan is coming off a 98-67 loss to Bethany last Saturday in Lindsborg. Scott Weber led the way with 12 points while Dane Brinker had 11, but the Swedes shot 47.4 percent from the field and nailed 12 3-pointers on the way to the victory.

Dylan Briscoe leads the Coyotes in scoring at 10.6 per game as Wesleyan scores 68.6 points per game. Ty Dean is Wesleyan's top rebounder at 4.57 per game. The Coyotes are allowing a conference worst 90.2 points per game. Wesleyan is shooting 37.5 percent from the field as a team, led by Jason Carter at 49.3 percent.

SCOUTING THE BETHEL THRESHERS (1-18, 1-9 KCAC)
Bethel comes into Thursday's game on a 12-game losing streak after dropping a 81-69 decision to No. 5 ranked McPherson on Saturday night in McPherson. Bethel is 1-18 on the season and 1-9 in the KCAC, the only win for the Threshers coming over the Coyotes on December 3.

In Saturday's loss to McPherson, Lee Griffin poured in 32 points, and George Wittaker had 10 points as Bethel shot 48 percent from the field, but fell just short of the Bulldogs.

Bethel is averaging a KCAC worst 59.8 points per game, while shooting 37.6 percent from the field as a team. Lee Griffin leads the Threshers, averaging 14.3 points per game, while Trey Ronnebaum is Bethel's top rebounder averaging 5.6 per game.

THE LAST MEETING (Bethel 70, KWU 68 in Salina)…
The Kansas Wesleyan Men's Basketball team saw another second half lead slip from its grasp, but this time the Coyotes nearly grabbed the end of the rope and held on at the end. Bethel's Lee Griffin hit the game winning bucket with 1.0 seconds left to give the Threshers a 70-68 win over the Coyotes on Saturday at Mabee Arena.

Wesleyan was up by nine with 14:49 to go in the game, but an 11-1 run by Bethel gave the Threshers the lead with 11:26 left on a free throw by Trevor Ford. The Coyotes answered back to take a four point lead at 49-45 on Brock Borovetz' free throws with 10:32 left, but Bethel would use a 13-0 run capped by a Griffin three-point play to take a 58-49 lead with 7:54 left.

The Coyotes weren't ready to give up yet, outscoring Bethel 13-4 over the next four minutes to tie things back up at 62-all on a three by Dylan Briscoe. Bethel regained a six point lead with 53 seconds left on another Griffin score before the Coyotes would again tie things up at 68-all on Ty Dean's free throws with 28.7 seconds left.

Bethel took a timeout with 21.1 seconds left and Griffin threw up a circus shot from just inside the free throw line that bounced on the rim and fell in with what appeared to be 1.6 seconds left. The clock stopped at 0.4 seconds, and officials determined that 1.0 seconds were left in the game. Out of a Wesleyan timeout, Borovetz threw a baseball pass the length of the floor to Briscoe who jumped, caught the ball, landed and shot just before time expired, but his shot was short giving Bethel the win.

The game started out as though the Coyotes were going to control the tempo against the previously winless Threshers, jumping out to a 7-2 lead, but Bethel came back and took a 17-8 lead thanks to back-to-back Jared Regehr 3-pointers, the last with 10:56 to go in the half that capped a 15-2 run for the Threshers.

A 9-0 run by Wesleyan evened the score back up at 17-all with 4:22 to go, and Wesleyan again was down by six at 25-19 before a steal and layup by  Keon Jones just before the halftime buzzer sent the teams into the locker room tied at 26.

Wesleyan scored the eight of the first ten points of the second half capped by back-to-back triples by Briscoe and Seth Smith to lead 36-28 with 18:08 to go. Wesleyan saw Bethel get back within five at 37-32, but a 6-2 run capped by Dane Brinker's three-point play with 14:49 to go put the Coyotes up nine at 43-34.

Briscoe led Wesleyan (2-8, 0-2 KCAC) with 16 points, while Jones added 12 as the Coyotes were 22-of-62 from the field for 35.5 percent. Dean and Brinker had seven rebounds each to lead the Coyotes to a 42-42 draw on the boards with the Threshers.

Griffin led all scorers in the game with 19, all in the second half, as Bethel (1-6, 1-1 KCAC) shot 21-of-54 from the field for 38.9 percent which included a 13-of-24 effort in the second half. Trey Ronnebaum had eight rebounds to lead Bethel.

SCOUTING THE TABOR BLUEJAYS (9-12 OVERALL, 5-5 KCAC)
Tabor enters play this week coming off an 80-65 upset win over then No. 15 ranked Southwestern on Saturday in Hillsboro. Joe Penn led the Bluejays with 22 points, while Ryan Chippeaux added 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Joe Penn is Tabor's leading scorer, averaging 13.4 points per game, while Ryan Chippeaux and Dylan Clark-Kaneable pace the Bluejay rebounders at 7.1 boards per contest. Tabor is shooting 43 percent from the field on the way to scoring 74.6 points per game.

THE LAST MEETING (Tabor 84, KWU 60 in Hillsboro)…
HILLSBORO – A deadly barrage of three-pointers helped the Tabor Bluejays come away with an 84-60 win over the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes on Thursday night at the Tabor College Gym.

The Bluejays opened up a huge early advantage in the game thanks to back-to-back-to-back triples that gave them an 11-2 lead with 16:35 to go in the first half. Tabor was on fire from long range all night, connecting on 13-of-30 three pointers for 43.3 percent.

It was an advantage the Coyotes could never recover from in the game. Wesleyan got within five on a bucket by Keon Jones with 15:06 to go in the half, but the Bluejays would take a 26-12 lead on a basket by Dylan Clark-Kaneable with 8:26 to go and would continue to stretch their lead out to a period-high 24 points, 38-14, with 1:31 to go before the half on a Phillip Jimenez three.

Tabor took a 40-16 lead into the half, as they held the Coyotes to 7-of-29 shooting for 24.1 percent in the opening 20 minutes.

Five straight Wesleyan points to open the second half got the Coyotes back within 19 on Brock Borovetz' score with 19:03 to go, but a 16-6 over the next five-plus minutes gave Tabor a 56-27 lead with 15:40 to go on another triple from Jimenez.

Wesleyan didn't throw in the towel, cutting Tabor's lead down to 22 points on a Jones bucket, but Tabor was able push its lead out to a game high 36 points at 76-40 with 7:53 to go. The resilient Coyotes came fighting back getting the deficit back under 30 points on Dane Brinker's score with 2:38 to go and would cut the lead to the final difference of 84-60 with a minute to go on another score by Brinker.

Wesleyan (2-9, 0-3 KCAC) played Tabor (4-8, 1-2 KCAC) to a 44-44 tie in the second half, but the first half is what did in the Coyotes. The Coyotes recovered to shoot 48.6 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes (48.6 percent), most of those buckets coming inside as Wesleyan finished with 30 points in the paint for the game.

Jones led Wesleyan with 20 points, while Brinker scored 13 as the Coyotes finished the night 24-of-64 for 37.5 percent from the field. Brinker had eight rebounds to lead the Coyotes.

Ryan Chippeaux led a balanced scoring effort for Tabor as Jimenez added 13, Clark-Kaneable 12, Joe Penn 11 and Lawson Kingsley 10 as the Bluejays shot 25-of-61 for 41 percent in the game. David Loewen led the way with 10 rebounds for Tabor.