The Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers held off a late SIUE rally on the way to a 77-70 victory Saturday afternoon at the Vadalabene Center.
         KWC, 2-2 overall and 1-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, took a 41-30 lead into halftime and led by as much as 16 in the second half.
         Clutch SIUE shooting down the stretch closed KWC's advantage to 69-68 with 2:50 to go in the game. But from that point on, all the Cougars would get was two free throws from Ron Jones.
         Tyler Hackstadt's 16 points led SIUE, who fell to 3-4 and 2-2 in GLVC play with the loss. Jones, Calvin Sykes and Joel Jaye contributed 12 points each.
         Bobby Zuerner's 25 points led a trio of Panthers who scored in double figures. Eric Freeman and Franklyn Ferguson scored 17 and 14 points, respectively.
         Kentucky Wesleyan out rebounded SIUE 36-24.
                -siue cougars-