Kentucky Wesleyan's three-point barrage proved to be enough to get past a game Missouri S&T squad Thursday night as the Panthers came away with a 67-62 win at Billy Key Court.

 

The Panthers (13-4, 6-4 GLVC) scored 48 of their 67 points from beyond the arc on the strength of 16 three-point baskets and shot 57.1 percent from long range against the Miners.

 

It was the three-point shot that lifted KWC into the lead for much of the first half as it connected eight times from long range in the first 20 minutes. However, the Miners used a late surge to get the lead with 1:39 remaining in the half on a three by Curtis Mosley (Chicago, Ill./), then a lay-in by Marquis Jones (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal Ritter) with 26 seconds left put S&T up by three.

 

The Miners would take a one-point lead into the locker room, but the Panthers made a 11-0 run to open the second half and were never headed from that point. A pair of three-pointers by Chris Williams gave the Panthers a 40-31 lead three minutes into the half.

 

Kentucky Wesleyan opened its lead to as many as 13 points with 8:26 to go and led 58-48 with 6:28 left. The Miners responded with a run that got them to within one with 1:48 remaining.

 

S&T trailed 61-52 after a three by Trey Harris at the 4:11 mark, but got three-pointers of its own from Mosley and Owain Hall (Kingston, Jamica/) on back-to-back trips to get the margin down to three with 3:15 to play. 

 

After the Miners made a pair of defensive stops, Mosley connected twice at the line with 1:48 on the clock to make it a one-point game. However, T.J. Smith hit an 18-foot jumper to extend Wesleyan's lead to three, then the Panthers got a defensive stop and got another basket from Smith on a baseline jumper with 24 seconds to play.

 

Mosley led all scorers in the game with 17 points, while Hall finished with 12 and Casey Noll (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) with 11. The Miners hit eight three-pointers in the game – Hall getting all of his 12 points on four treys – but shot only 40.4 percent for the night.

 

Smith and Maros Zuffa had 14 points apiece for Kentucky Wesleyan and Smith also added nine assists.

 

The Miners (7-11, 2-8 GLVC) will host Southern Indiana Saturday at 3 p.m.