KWU Sports Information
YORK, Neb. – It was a comeback for the ages.
No. 21 Kansas Wesleyan overcame a 14-point deficit in the final 12½ minutes, riding the heroics of Alex Littlejohn (SO/Newton, Kan.) down the stretch, and notched a heart-stopping 80-78 Kansas Conference victory over York on Saturday night inside the Freeman Center.
The Coyotes improved to 15-1 overall, 9-1 in the KCAC, with their seventh consecutive victory. York fell to 7-9 and 5-5.
Littlejohn scored all nine of the Coyotes' points the final 3 minutes, 15 seconds including two free throws with 20.4 seconds left that gave them a 79-78 lead. After York's Erik Talton missed a 3-point attempt Littlejohn added another free throw for the game's final point with 5 seconds left.
KWU's rally was frantic in every sense of the word. The Coyotes trailed 41-27 at halftime and were down 57-43 with 12:46 remaining before embarking on their improbable comeback.
They twice narrowed the deficit to six, 64-58 and 66-60, but two Brent Clark free throws gave York a 68-60 lead with 6:16 left. KWU immediately responded with an 11-0 run, the last seven points from Easton Hunter (JR/Colwich, Kan.). His 3-pointer gave the Coyotes a 71-68 lead with 4:24 left – their first lead since a 3-2 advantage early on.
A Clark 3-pointer tied the game at 71 with 4:08 left but it was all Littlejohn from that point on.
His basket with 3:15 left made it 73-71. York took leads of 74-73, 76-75 and 78-77 the final 2½ minutes but Littlejohn answered each time with two field goals and the two free throws that gave KWU its final lead.
"There was no stopping this train, you could see it coming from a mile away," coach Anthony Monson said on his postgame radio show. "You could tell the momentum was shifting. They started calling time out after time out after time out. We had them on the ropes and I told the guys 'they're right there, let's push them off the cliff and we're good' and that's what we did."
Littlejohn finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season. He had 22 points and eight rebounds the second half. Hunter scored 16 that included four 3-pointers, Tyus Jeffries (SR/Oklahoma City, Okla.) had 15 points off the bench – 11 the second half – and Cory Kaplan (JR/Merritt Island, Fla.) finished with 14.
After shooting a dismal 29 percent the first half (9 of 31) the Coyotes warmed to 62 percent (21 of 34) the final 20 minutes.
"We were really timid the first half," Monson said. "Over half our shots were from the 3-point line. We let their pressure discourage us from getting downhill into the paint. When we finally figured out they're not the big bad scary team in the paint that we thought they were we started going there and kept going there. Alex and Tyus were just enormous down the stretch."
Things got chippy between the two teams during the second half but the Coyotes stayed the course.
"They just had that will to win," Monson said. "We had some adversity tonight but it is what it is, it's life on the road and we've got to deal with it. We found a way to overcome a bunch of stuff and had great quality minutes the whole second half. It's a happy locker room and I'm so proud of this group right now."
Clark's 21 points led York which shot 43.3 percent (26 of 60) including 7 of 26 beyond the 3-point line. The Panthers had 16 turnovers and KWU nine.
Next up for the Coyotes is a marquee matchup against No. 6 Southwestern at 8 p.m. Wednesday inside Mabee Arena. The Moundbuilders, who are also 15-1 overall and 9-1 in the conference, have won 10 in a row after defeating Friends 85-71 Saturday in Winfield.