COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes led by 17 points at halftime thanks largely to AJ Range (SR/Junction City, Kan.). Cory Kaplan (SO/Merritt Island, Fla.) made sure KWU maintained its advantage in the second half.
Range scored 19 points in the first half and Kaplan had 16 the second in leading the Coyotes to an 80-69 non-conference victory Saturday afternoon inside the Southwell Complex.
Wesleyan improved to 12-1 with its sixth consecutive victory. The Coyotes conclude first semester with a Kansas Conference game against Avila on Monday starting at 8 p.m. in Kansas City, Mo. The women's game starts at 6 p.m.
The 12-1 start to the season ties for the second best start to a season in program history with the 1976 team, coached by Randy St. Clair; and the 1915 team coached by William Journey. Only Wally Forsberg's 1950 team had a better 13-game start to its season, going 13-0, on the way to a 22-2 finish and appearance in the NAIA National Championships that season.
Range, KWU's veteran post player, dominated play the first half connecting on 8 of 9 field goal attempts, including two 3-pointers, as the Coyotes went to the locker room with a 43-26 lead at intermission.
Kaplan's three-point play with 17:10 left in the game increased the lead to 51-29 but Columbia battled back with a 10-0 surge that made it 51-39 with 13:40 left.
Trailing 62-47 the Cougars trimmed the deficit to single digits, 62-53, with 10:06 remaining. They got as close as seven on three occasions the final 3½ minutes – the last 76-69 with 1:15 remaining.
Wesleyan, though, closed it out with four free throws the final 39.9 seconds as Kaplan and Range fittingly made two free throws apiece.
Range finished with a season-high 25 points on 8 of 12 shooting and was 7 of 9 at the free throw line. He also grabbed a game-best 10 rebounds.
Kaplan was 6 of 12 from the field the second half and finished with 23 points on 9 of 18 shooting that included two 3-pointers (2 of 5) and 3 of 4 at the foul line. Jun Murdock (SO/Wichita, Kan.) added 10 points, five assists and four steals.
The Coyotes shot 53 percent the first half (18 of 34) and 48.4 percent for the game (30 of 62). They also made 14 of 19 free throw attempts and won the rebounding battle 36-32.
Columbia (7-8) shot 51.6 percent the second half (16 of 31) and 47.5 percent for the game (28 of 59). The Cougars entered the contest averaging 80 points.
Kemryn Jenkins, a guard and transfer from McPherson College where he played for two seasons, led Columbia with 17 points while Chima Oduocha added 16 points and nine rebounds. Jenkins and Oduocha scored 10 points each the final 20 minutes.
Avila improved to 5-8 overall, 5-4 in the KCAC, with a 65-45 victory over Saint Mary on Saturday afternoon in Leavenworth. The Coyotes, who are 7-1 in conference play, defeated Saint Mary 75-71 Wednesday inside Mabee Arena.