OWENSBORO, Ky. – Kentucky Wesleyan remained hot at home with an 81-71 G-MAC win over Cedarville.
The Panthers extended their homecourt winning streak to ten despite playing in the smaller Jones Gym on campus instead of their usual venue - the historic Owensboro Sportscenter.
Anthony Ruffolo scored 21 of his game-high 23 points in the second half for CU, 9-9 overall and 4-6 G-MAC.
Sam Johnson totaled 17 points with eight rebounds and
Will Gibson added ten points.
The Yellow Jackets, who hammered KWC by 30 at home three weeks prior, took their only lead when
Jaylen Davis opened the contest with a three-pointer.
A 33-21 halftime deficit grew to 15 early in the second half, but Ruffolo drilled four triples during a 19-4 run to get Cedarville within two.
Kentucky Wesleyan answered with a 22-5 eruption over the next six minutes to seal the outcome.
Quotable: Head Coach Rob Jones
"We weren't able to disrupt their rhythm enough today. They hurt us at the rim early, and as the half went on they did a good job exploiting our weak-side help and knocking down threes. That's a tough combination.
"On our end, we didn't capitalize enough at the rim or the foul line. I thought we generated a lot of clean looks from three in the first half and just didn't convert. Too many areas weren't good enough for us to pull this one out. We have to learn from it and be ready to bounce back with two really good opponents next week."
Stinger Notes:
- Ruffolo equaled his season-high of six threes (Lincoln Memorial).
- Johnson is averaging 17 points and six rebounds in his last eight games.
- Only 18 bench points combined were scored by both teams.
- It was the 25th meeting between the two schools with KWC leading the series, 16-9.
