Kansas Wesleyan men's basketball coach Anthony Monson was searching for something positive from his team.
Entering their Kansas Conference game against York on Wednesday night, the Coyotes had lost their last two games and five of seven. Judging by the results he found what he was looking for - at least for one night.
Senior forward Alex Littlejohn had 20 points and 11 rebounds, freshman forward Carson Jones scored 22 in his second start of the year, and sophomore guards Tucker Bowman and Aiden Leckband had 14 apiece as the Coyotes steamrolled the Panthers 100-61 inside Mabee Arena.
Littlejohn also broke the school's career record for field goals made. His shot under the basket with 6:07 left gave him 567 for his career and surpassed Gary Cassell's 566 total set in 1955.
"We've been struggling, been pretty inconsistent all year," Monson said. "We've been struggling just trying to find some rhythm of what works with this group and then you have your starting two-guard (Easton Hunter) go down with an ankle injury in practice.
"We made some adjustments of how we're going to play offensively and really dictated a lot of the offense basically the entire night. The guys bought into it, we got the (defensive) stops we needed, and we were able to push that lead up and frustrate them."
Trailing 32-30 with 3½ minutes left in the first half the Coyotes (7-5, 2-4 KCAC) took control with a 10-0 run the rest of the way and led 40-32 at the break.
They continued to pour it on the final 20 minutes. Jones scored 11 consecutive points early in the second half sparking a 17-4 surge that made it 57-36 with just under 15 minutes remaining.
Leading 65-46 KWU made it a rout with a 16-2 run and led 81-48 with 6 minutes left.
"We watched film, broke some stuff down and we kind of aired out some things as a team - what we wanted to change," said Littlejohn who was 10 of 15 shooting and had three assists and two steals.
"We took what we did in practice and we did it in the game. We played unselfishly. We hadn't been moving the ball, not getting everybody involved. Carson had what he had, Aiden came off the bench and played really good and Tucker had seven assists and no turnovers. Everybody was getting some action."
While pleased to break the record Littlejohn said his focus is elsewhere.
"It was kind of cool that I was able to get it but I'm only worried about the wins and I want our team to do well," he said.
"He's going to go down as one of the best players ever to put on a KW uniform," Monson said. "There's no doubt his name's going to be over the record book when it's all said and done."
Jones was 7 of 11 shooting including 5 of 6 from beyond the 3-point arc and had four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
"It's a big shoutout to my teammates for always having the confidence in me," he said. "I don't make every shot that I take but the ones I do I believe are going to go in. You make one, make two and they always pile on. It's a lot easier to shoot when you get stops on defense and your team brings energy."
Leckband was 5 of 8 shooting (2 of 4 from beyond the arc) and had five assists. Bowman was 6 of 10 shooting (2 of 5 from deep) and had four steals.
"What Aiden and Carson and Tucker do really well is they move the ball better than pretty much anybody on the team," Monson said. "Some of the older guys need to learn from the young guys the way to move the ball, the way to pass the ball. It made everything more efficient and made things better."
Evens Appolon, KWU's 6-foot-8 center, had another big night inside finishing with 10 points, seven blocks, three rebounds and two steals.
Carl Thorpe Jr. paced York (4-7, 1-5 KCAC) with 20 points and 10 rebounds.