COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Dominican men's basketball team could not rally from a double-digit deficit in the second half, falling at home to Kentucky Wesleyan Monday night, 68-62.

RECORDS

• With the loss, Ohio Dominican drops to 3-6 on the season and 3-5 in Great Midwest play.
• Kentucky Wesleyan, winners of three straight, improve to 8-4 overall and 7-4 in the G-MAC.

INDIVIDUAL NUMBERS

• For the second consecutive game and fifth time this season, sophomore Sean Marks (Delaware, Ohio) paced the Panthers in scoring. Marks tallied 15 points and added a team-high seven assists, just one off his career best. The guard collected a career-high four steals defensively.
• Making his season debut and first appearance since Jan. 11, 2020, sophomore Alek West (Sylvania, Ohio) posted 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting. The 12 points ties a career high mark.
• Freshman Zach Szul (Waterville, Ohio) recorded 12 points, three rebounds and three assists.
• Three Panther players tied for the team high in rebounds with eight. Junior Caleb Strohmeier (Edwardsville, Ill.) was among the trio, as he also logged multiple blocked shots for the just the second time in his collegiate career.
• Freshman Jack Townsend (Odon, Ind.) pitched in with eight points off the bench. ODU outscored KWC 25-13 in bench points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• ODU scored the first five points of the game, which would be the Panthers largest lead of the evening.
• With KWC in front 17-11, the Black & Gold used an 8-0 run, capped by an Ethan Haynes (Florence, Ky.) triple to take an 18-17 lead midway through the first half.
• The remainder of the first half was played within a five-point window and late three pointer from KWC gave them a 31-29 lead at the break.
• The Purple Panthers slowly extended their lead throughout the opening phase of the second half, eventually leading by as many as 13 points 53-40, with 9:05 remaining.
• Still trailing by double digits, ODU outscored KWC 16-10 over the final 5:56, but five free throws in the final 35 seconds secured the win for KWC.

UP NEXT

• Ohio Dominican will head back out on the road to start a three game road swing starting Thursday, Feb. 4. The Panthers are slated to travel to Nashville to face Trevecca Nazarene at 8:15 (ET) on Thursday.

Contact: Tyler Jester

jestert@ohiodominican.edu