YORK, Neb. - Another close game, another gut-wrenching loss for the Kansas Wesleyan men.
The Coyotes led York by 11 points with 11½ minutes left in the game but couldn't hang on in a 60-57 Kansas Conference setback Wednesday night inside the Freeman Center. Dylan Holston's 3-pointer with 4 seconds left was the difference.
KWU (10-13, 5-12 KCAC) suffered its fourth consecutive loss and seventh in a row by three points or less. York improved to 7-15 and 4-13.
"It's tough," KWU coach Anthony Monson said on the postgame radio show. "It came down to who was going to make (shots) and who was going to miss. They made a couple of shots, a couple of threes, and we came up short."
Easton Hunter's 3-pointer with 11:33 left in the game gave the Coyotes a 50-39 lead but York answered with a 10-0 run over the next 5½ minutes - KWU missing four shots and turning it over three times during that span.
An Izaiah Hale basket with 2:24 left gave Wesleyan a 55-53 lead but Rhino Hernandez's 3-pointer with 1:56 remaining put York back on top 56-55. An Alex Littlejohn basket with 1:34 remaining gave the Coyotes their final lead, 57-56, but Andrew Bennett tied it at 57 with a free throw at the 1:17 mark.
KWU missed a shot, York turned it over and the Coyotes missed another shot with 26 seconds left. Following a York timeout with 19 seconds left Holston, who averages 3 points per game, hit the winning shot from the corner.
"The ball's just not bouncing our way right now," Monson said. "I know the guys are frustrated; I'm frustrated. We've just got to keep driving, keep working. I thought we got opportunities, we got looks, but we've got to be able to finish those looks when it matters most. You've got to give York a lot of credit but I feel for my guys right now."
Wesleyan erased a 21-16 first half deficit with a 12-3 surge and led 31-29 at halftime. A 12-6 surge gave the Coyotes the 11-point advantage, their largest of the game.
Hunter led KWU with 18 points and was 4 of 8 beyond the 3-point line. Carson Jones scored 14, Littlejohn had 11 and eight rebounds and Evens Appolon 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Coyotes shot 39 percent (23 of 59).
York shot 42.6 percent (23 of 54) and was led by Bennett's 19 points. Hernandez had 14 and Carl Thorpe Jr. 10 and 11 rebounds.