McPHERSON - Kansas Wesleyan Men's Basketball had an eight-point lead at halftime of Wednesday's Kansas Conference game at Holman Fieldhouse against the McPherson College Bulldogs.
Halfway through the second half, the Coyotes were down six points.
But Wesleyan's resilient group did not give up, instead the Coyotes clawed back and escaped with a 75-73 win over the Bulldogs.
The win gives head coach Jordan Murdock his first conference win in his career. KWU improved to 3-4 overall, 1-1 in the rugged KCAC.
A 7-1 run by McPherson broke a 54-all tie in the second half, giving the Bulldogs a 61-55 lead with 9:24 to go.
The Coyotes weren't done though. Gabe Phillips hit a pair of free throws and the Coyotes also got free throws by Alec Grill and Caiden Punt to draw back even at 61-all with 7:08 left.
McPherson held the lead until a bucket by Evens Appolon and a 3-pointer by Punt pushed the Coyotes up three with 5:28 to go.
The teams battled back and forth with McPherson leading 71-70 with 1:28 left when the Coyotes got another Appolon basket and then turned a McPherson turnover into points on a score by Wyatt Powell to lead 74-71.
McPherson scored with eight seconds left to get within a point, but Brandon Avedon would hit 1 of 2 free throws to give the Coyotes a 75-73 lead with 5.5 seconds left. McPherson inbounded and drove the length of the floor and a desperation shot as time expired fell short giving the Coyotes the win.
The Coyotes built an early 7-4 lead in the first half on a Powell score, but then the teams got in a basket trading contest, also trading the lead back and forth until a Powell 3-pointer gave the Coyotes a 20-18 lead with 11:19 to go.
Another Powell bucket gave the Coyotes a 36-25 lead with 5:27 to go in the first and a bucket by Phillips with 3:53 left in the half gave KWU its biggest lead of the night at 39-27.
Punt and Powell had 17 points each for the Coyotes. Punt added 10 rebounds for a double-double. Phillips had 15 and Appolon had 10 and eight rebounds. KWU dominated on the boards 45-29.