Kansas Wesleyan Men's Basketball had six players reach double figures as the Coyotes came away with a resounding 85-76 win over the Saint Mary Spires on Saturday night inside Mabee Arena.
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak to the Spires and also got the Coyotes back to .500 on the season at 6-6 overall, and 4-3 in the KCAC. Saint Mary fell to 7-5 overall, and 2-5 in the KCAC.
The lead bounced back and forth in the first half, but the Coyotes took control in the final minutes of the frame.
A pair of free throws by Brandon Avedon with 4:13 left in the first half tied things up at 36, and sparked a 13-0 run for the Coyotes that gave KWU a 47-36 lead with 1:32 left on a three-point play by Braylin Goins.
Saint Mary cut the difference to six just before the half as KWU carried a 49-43 lead into the break.
KWU came out of the half on fire, outscoring the Spires 11-0 to start the second pushing the lead out to 17 at 60-43 with 16:45 left after Wyatt Powell's bucket.
The Spires came back, cutting Wesleyan's lead to five points at 66-61 with 11:26 left, but again the Coyotes would regain control as four straight points by Powell gave the Coyotes a 70-61 lead with 10:45 left.
Saint Mary again cut it to five, and were within six with 3:50 left with the Coyotes got five straight on a Gabriel Phillips score and a 3-pointer by Matthew Garber to take an 80-69 lead with 2:47 to go.
Another Garber triple put the Coyotes up 13 at 83-70, and the Spires never got closer than seven the rest of the way.
Wesleyan took an early 8-3 lead to start, but Saint Mary answered back with an 11-0 run to take a 14-8 lead with 16:37 left in the first half.
KWU battled back, taking the lead with 13:23 left on a pair of Goins free throws that made it 17-16.
The Spires regained a six-point margin at 30-24 with 8:50 left in the half, but KWU got right back into it, tying things at 30 on a Powell bucket and another by Branden Avedon gave the Coyotes a 32-30 lead.
Caiden Punt led the Coyotes with 17, while Goins added 14, Powell and Garber had 12 and Evens Appolon and Avedon had 10 each. The Coyotes dominated Saint Mary on the boards 41-25 led by nine from Appolon and seven each from Phillips and Avedon.
The Coyotes shot 51.8 percent from the field in the game after a blistering 58.6 percent clip in the first half.