A long cold streak and the red-hot shooting of two Ottawa Braves in the second half spoiled the Kansas Conference opener for Kansas Wesleyan.
Ottawa used an 18-4 run to erase an eight-point Coyote lead and got 52 combined points from Micah Willis and Rich Martelly in a 92-86 overtime victory over KWU Saturday night inside Mabee Arena.
Wesleyan fell to 2-4 while Ottawa improved to 4-2.
The Coyotes led 44-38 at halftime and had a 63-54 advantage with 8:08 left in the game. That's when Ottawa embarked on the 18-4 surge and led 72-67 with 2:17 remaining. It began with eight consecutive points from Martelly.
KWU rallied and pulled even 74-74 on a Gabe Phillips basket with 47 seconds left. Two Martelly free throws with 19 seconds left gave OU a 76-74 lead before Evens Appolon's dunk with 7 seconds remaining evened at 76. Martelly's shot at the buzzer missed sending the game into overtime.
The Coyotes scored first in the extra period on a Caiden Punt basket and had an 80-79 lead after two Wyatt Powell free throws with 4:13 left.
Ottawa, though, scored the next nine points, Willis accounting for the final seven, and led 87-80 at the 2:32 mark. KWU got as close as four (90-86) on another Phillips basket with 25.7 seconds left but another Braves basket with 20 seconds left and a Coyote turnover ended it.
"This team is young and playing with a lead is something they're going to have to figure out," KWU coach Jordan Murdock said. "It's hard to do especially when a team is coming out in the second half and know they've got a deficit to pick up. We can't be lackadaisical when we come out."
The Coyotes shot 50 percent from the field in the first half (16 of 32) but 37.2 percent in the second (16 of 43). It was a particularly tough night from long range - 2 of 19 (10.5 percent).
"We've got to make shots, we shot 10 percent from the 3-point line," Murdock said. "I felt like we had pretty good shots, but we were rushing a lot. We had some good open looks and they didn't fall.
"At the same time, we've got to be able to guard. Their two guys really got to us, 28 and 24 points, and we can't allow that to happen. We stopped guarding in the second half."
Brandon Avedon led Wesleyan with 22 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Phillips and Powell scored 17 apiece, Punt had 15 and eight rebounds and Appolon eight points, eight rebounds and three blocks. The Coyotes won the rebounding battle 42-36 and outscored Ottawa 54-38 in the paint.
Willis finished with 28 points and Martelly 24. Ottawa shot 50 percent for the game (32 of 64) including 10 of 20 from beyond the 3-point arc.