Owensboro, Ky. - The University of Findlay men's basketball team wrapped up its' first conference road trip of the season, falling by a score of 81-78 at the hands of the Kentucky Wesleyan College Panthers on Thursday, November 30. With that defeat the Oilers have dropped five straight and fall to 1-5 on the year and 0-2 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. On the other side, KWC has now won four straight and improve to 4-2 on the year and start 1-0 in the conference. Findlay led Thursday's contest for almost 31 minutes as they looked to pick up the first conference win of the year. The biggest lead of the game for the Oilers came late in the first half when a three-pointer was canned by senior Joey Edmonds to give the visiting team a 41-32 lead. A jumper at the buzzer by KWC sent Findlay into the half with a seven-point advantage.

A quick 10-4 run out of the break pulled the Panthers within one at 45-44, but Findlay distanced itself and held KWC around a five-point deficit for much of the half.

With both squads relying heavily on the three-ball, things heated up with about six minutes to play. KWC's Kaeveon Mitchell drilled a triple to tie the game at 64 with 5:46 to play, the first time the Panthers had tied or had the lead in the game since just ten minutes into the first half.

The barrage of triples followed as the teams traded four consecutive balls from beyond the arc. Findlay held a narrow 71-70 lead with 3:33 to play.

A triple by senior Nathan Bruns with 2:27 to play put Findlay in front 76-74, but the biggest shot of the game came about a minute later when Panthers' guard Kennedy Miles drilled a triple from the wing to put his team in front by one at 79-78, a lead that the home team would not relinquish.

In the game, the teams combined for 56 three-point attempts, both shooting 28 on the night. Findlay hit 14 while KWC made 13. Those attempts accounted for 53% of the shots taken on Thursday night.

As is often the case, a large disparity in free-throw attempts can spell trouble and that held true in Owensboro as the Panthers made 18-of-23 attempts from the charity stripe while the Oilers, which committed 19 fouls in the game, hit just 6-of-9.

Battling a leg injury, senior Nathan Bruns, who had started in all of his last 64 games played for the Oilers dating back to the 2020-21 season, came off the bench to score 16 points on 5-of-7 from the floor including a pair of three-pointers. He also hit 4-of-5 from the free-throw line and tied for the team lead with four assists.

Senior Joey Edmonds scored 13 points on 5-of-11 from the floor. He hit a trio of triples and also had four helpers.

Sophomore Jaggers Landers was the only other Findlay player in double figures, scoring ten points on the night. Freshman Guard Anthony Johnson was the leading rebounder for the Orange and Black as he collected six boards.



Findlay will regroup and head back home for their first home conference game of the season on Saturday, Dec. 9 when they play host to the Cedarville Yellow Jackets. That game will tip at 3:00 pm.