The Kansas Wesleyan men played well for the first 32½ minutes of their game against Bethel. The final 7½ minutes were their undoing, though.
The Threshers erased an 18-point deficit by outscoring the Coyotes 27-6 down the stretch and eked out a 74-71 Kansas Conference victory Wednesday night inside Mabee Arena.
KWU fell to 8-7 overall, 3-6 in the conference while Bethel improved to 9-6 and 5-4.
The heartbreaking loss overshadowed outstanding performances by Alex Littlejohn and Evens Appolon.
Littlejohn scored 21 points and moved within 12 of becoming KWU's career scoring leader. Gary Cassel's record of 1,544 points has lasted 70 years (1955) but Littlejohn could pass him when the Coyotes play Avila on Saturday in Kansas City, Mo. Littlejohn also had 14 rebounds, three assists and two blocks while playing 32½ minutes.
Appolon, KWU's 6-foot-8 center, scored a career-high 21 points on 9 of 12 shooting that included four thunderous second-half dunks. He also grabbed eight rebounds and blocked five shots.
Wesleyan trailed by 10 twice in the first half but outscored Bethel 15-7 the final 6½ minutes and led 34-32 at the intermission.
Leading 45-42 early in the second half the Coyotes went on a 20-5 surge and led 65-47 with 7:45 left in the game. Bethel responded with 12 unanswered points, but KWU still had a 69-62 with 2:26 left after two Appolon baskets that sandwiched an Eli Wiseman 3-pointer.
The Threshers, though, scored the next eight points and took the lead 71-69 on two Harper Jonas free throws with 58 seconds left.
Two Littlejohn free throws tied it at 17 with 45.5 seconds remaining but Bethel regained the lead 73-71 on a Carmelo Yakubu basket with 31 seconds left. Littlejohn missed a closely guarded shot inside and Yakubu made one of two free throws with 5.1 seconds left for the game's final point.
Yakubu scored a game-high 24 points, 18 in the second half, 10 the final 2:15.
"When they started pressing us a little bit it sped us up and we just made some really careless plays that gave them momentum," KWU coach Anthony Monson said on his postgame radio show. "They got downhill and we thought we had a bigger lead than we really did. It evaporated really quickly because they got a lot of transition buckets.
"Carmelo Yakubu made a lot of plays getting to the basket and we couldn't stop them from scoring. Give them credit, they knocked the free throws at the end to seal it."
KWU had 12 turnovers that led to 25 Bethel points while the Coyotes scored nine off the Threshers' eight turnovers. Bethel also had 17 offensive rebounds to Wesleyan's nine and Bethel won the overall rebounding battle 41-38.
"This game was a game of runs and they had one last run," Monson said. "We've got to be better down the stretch and really value that basketball. I think we got a little too loose with it and that's on me. I've got to do a better job by making sure that we take care of it and get us into what we want to get into. When we did, we did a good job."
KWU shot 47.5 percent (29 of 61) while Bethel shot 39.7 percent (27 of 68). The Threshers were 13 of 20 at the foul line, the Coyotes 7 of 12.