COLUMBUS - The Ohio Dominican Panthers men's basketball team closed out the home portion of the 2022-23 schedule with a battle of the Panthers at Alumni Hall. 

Ohio Dominican rallied with a second-half effort to fall just short 59-58 to the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers on Thursday (Feb. 23) evening as a part of Senior Night. 

BOX SCORE NOTES

• Zach Szul (Waterville, Ohio) and Jarius Jones (Gahanna, Ohio) both led the Panthers with 14 points and seven rebounds in the game.
  • Szul made five field goals, including one three pointer while going three-of-four at the free throw line. 
  • Jones came off the bench with six-of-12 shooting, making one three pointer and one free throw. Three of his seven rebounds came on the offensive end and came away with a team-high three steals. 
• Sean Marks (Delaware, Ohio) scored nine points on his Senior Night with an ODU-best three assists. Marks completed all four free throw tries and added one layup and a three pointer. 
• Ethan Haynes (Florence, Kentucky) finished with seven points, three rebounds and a block. 
• Caleb Laurich (Akron, Ohio) put in 13 minutes off the bench with seven points, three rebounds, one steal and a block. Of his three boards, he led all of his teammates with two offensive rebounds. 
• Keshawn Heard (Newark, Ohio) had a stat line of five points, five rebounds and two blocks. 
• Kevin James (Massillon, Ohio) made his second start of the year, finishing with five rebounds, two points and a steal and block. 
• Overall, the ODU Panthers shot 40.7% from the floor - converting 22-of-54 shots. Kentucky Wesleyan finished shooting 42.1% (24-57) in the game.
• Ohio Dominican won the three point category with six triples to KWC's five and a 27.3%-20.8% advantage. 
• At the line, ODU was eight-of-11 while KWC was six-of-ten. 
• The Black and Gold edged the Purple Panthers in rebounding 36-35.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a back-and-forth first three minutes with four lead changes, Ohio Dominican led 7-6 after a Szul jumper with 16:57 left. 
• Kentucky Wesleyan went on a 12-0 run over the next six minutes, opening an 18-7 lead. 
• Back-to-back buckets from Haynes and Jones cut the lead to seven points before KWC pushed the lead to ten points twice. 
• Trailing 23-13 with 9:07 left in the half, ODU went on a 12-4 rally with Szul and Jones each scoring five points to pull within two, 27-25 with 4:45 left before the intermission. 
• Kentucky Wesleyan closed the half with nine of the next 11 points for a 35-26 halftime lead. 
• Out of the break, the Purple Panthers added a 13-point lead twice in the early going. 
• Ohio Dominican scored eight straight points to pull a 41-28 lead to 41-36 with 13:48 to go. The run continued into a 13-2 spurt with Jones scoring seven straight points, getting ODU within 43-141 at the 11:41 mark. 
• The game remained a KWC one possession lead until ODU went on another 8-0 run to take a 51-46 lead. 
  • Szul hit the jumper to take back the 47-46 lead at the time. 
• Kentucky Wesleyan scored six straight points, taking back the 52-51 lead on a three-point play. Szul answered with a quick layup for the lead, only to lose the lead quickly after on an another three-point play. 
• The ODU Panthers got the lead to one tiwce in the final two minutes, including a pair of Marks' free throws with eight seconds to go. After a failed one-and-one free throw for KWC, ODU could not get the go-ahead shot away before time ran out as KWC won 59-58.

UP NEXT

The 2022-23 season will conclude on Saturday (Feb. 25) as the Panthers will head to Tiffin to face the Dragons at 3:00 PM.

Contact: Tyler Stotsky
stotskyt@ohiodominican.edu