Men’s Basketball Falls at No. 21 Kansas Wesleyan

Salina, Kansas – No. 21-ranked Kansas Wesleyan University opened the second half with a 17-4 run to top the Columbia College men’s basketball team 91-85 in non-conference action Saturday in Salina, Kansas.
 
Kansas Wesleyan won its sixth-straight game to improve to 13-1, while Columbia had a three-game win streak snapped and fell to 11-5. 
 
The Coyotes hit 12 three-pointers and recorded seven blocks in the win.
 
Tony Burks (28), Collin Parker (23), Marlon Allen (14) and Cole Gerken (12) scored in double figures for the Cougars, who shot 48.4 percent (31-64) from the field and 84.2 percent (16-19) from the free-throw line in the loss.
 
Burks had the hot hand early on for the Cougars scoring nine points in the opening eight minutes of play. He scored on a reverse lay-up and then hit a long jumper to give Columbia 17-14 lead with 11:48 to play.
 
Kansas Wesleyan took its largest lead of the half (34-28) with 3:16 to play on a pair of three-throws by Kaplan, but Collin Parker scored six-straight to get the lead down to four (38-34). A three-pointer by Gerken with 39 seconds left trimmed the Kansas Wesleyan lead to 40-37 at half.
 
Burks (14) and Parker (13) led all scorers in the half as the Cougars shot 50 percent (14-28) from the field. Columbia limited KWU to 37.5 percent (12-32) shooting from the field, but the Coyotes hit 11-of-14 from the foul line and had a 10-2 advantage in second-chance points.
 
Kansas Wesleyan opened the second half on a 17-4 run to open up a commanding 16-point lead (57-31) with 15:00 to play. The Coyotes hit four three-pointers during the run, including two from Murdock.
 
Columbia cut the lead to single digits (74-66) with 7:29 to play on a bucket by Parker. The Cougars got the lead down to six (88-82) after Burks scored, but that is as close as the Cougars would get. 
 
Cory Kaplan (18), Jun Murdock (18), Alex Littlejohn (17) and Trey Duffey (14) scored in double figures for Kansas Wesleyan, who shot 47.5 percent (28-59) from the field and hit 23-of-32 from the three-throw line.
 
Columbia leads the all-time series with Kansas Wesleyan 5-2.
 
The Cougars return home to host William Woods University on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 3 p.m.