KWU Sports Information
PHOENIX – Alex Littlejohn (SO/Newton, Kan.) scored 17 points, and Trey Duffey (JR/Topeka, Kan.) recorded a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds as the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes held on to defeat an upset-minded SAGU American Indian College team 90-84 on Saturday.
The Coyotes led by 18 points with 5:32 left on a 3-pointer by Marcel Dean (JR/Tucson, Ariz.), but the Warriors rallied down the stretch. A 12-0 run by SAGU cut Wesleyan's lead to six points at 82-76 with 3:20 to go in the game. Jun Murdock (JR/Wichita, Kan.) scored to put the Coyotes back up by eight with 2:15 left.
SAGU cut the difference to as few as four points with 12 seconds left, but Marcel Dean's free throws with 10 seconds to go sealed the win for the Coyotes.
The No. 21 ranked Coyotes started slow out of the gates, falling behind 14-4 to start the game behind a 9-0 run by the Warriors with 13:32 to go in the first.
Duffey's bucket broke the run, as the Coyotes used their own 21-4 run to take a 25-17 lead with 5:53 to go in the first.
Dean's triple with 4 minutes left in the first game the Coyotes a 12-point lead at 33-21.
Littlejohn's 3 with 1:16 left in the first would push the Coyote lead out to 17 at 43-26, but SAGU scored the final four points of the half to make it 43-30 at the half.
A 3-point play by Thurbil Bile (JR/Centennial, Colo.) pushed Wesleyan's lead out to 18 with 18:39 left in the game, and after a SAGU bucket, Bile scored again to make it 52-33 Coyotes with 17:50 left.
SAGU cut it to 13 before Wesleyan answered again pushing it back out to 19 on Easton Hunter (JR/Colwich, Kan.)'s 3 with 15:52 left.
Littlejohn's 17 led the Coyotes who shot 52.4 percent from the field (33 of 63), while Duffey had 16, Dean 13, Hunter 11 and Malik Marshall (SO/Rockford, Ill.) 10 as KWU had five in double figures. Duffey's 14 rebounds led the Coyotes to a 44-34 advantage on the boards.
Wesleyan concludes its trip to Arizona with a game against Park Gilbert on Monday at 4 p.m., Arizona Time, 5 p.m. Central Time.