OWENSBORO, Ky. - For the second time in as many games, the Truman men's basketball team accomplished the unthinkable with a seemingly insurmountable comeback, this time after trailing by 17 at Kentucky Wesleyan. The Bulldogs clawed all the way back and led by one, 71-70, before the Panthers cashed in on a pair of free throws late to extend their home winning streak to 37 with a 74-73 decision.

With the loss, Truman falls to 9-3 overall while Kentucky Wesleyan improves its record to 9-2 and win streak to seven. Another streak that was mentioned above is that of the Panthers inside the Owensboro Sportscenter where they have won 37 in a row. The last team to leave that arena with a win was the Bulldogs back on Nov. 29, 2014, 70-65. In what would have been a signature win for Truman, Kentucky Wesleyan may break into the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) poll when its released on Tuesday after receiving three votes outside of last week's top 25.

After scoring 13 points on just 3-of-13 shooting vs. Benedict on Friday, Nathan Messer (pictured) was out for blood on Saturday. Against the Panthers, the Navy transfer splashed in 23 points thanks in part to SEVEN three-pointers to go with four rebounds, one block and one steal. That makes it five times this year that a Bulldog has made at least six triples in a game and Messer's signature is next to three of them. Cory Myers wrapped up a great weekend of play by stuffing the stat sheet on Saturday with 18 points, seven dimes, six boards, and two steals. For The Wesleyan Way Invitational, those two were responsible for 50 percent of Truman's 152 points. Leading scorer, Jake Velky, was tied up for only six points and faced foul trouble for much of the night. Off the bench, Nikola Pesic was icy from the free throw line with seven makes in eight attempts to go with one block in 13 minutes on the floor.

In what was expected to be a high-scoring affair, both teams were held more than 13 points below their season averages. In the team head-to-head, Kentucky Wesleyan did some serious damage in the rebounding department and won that battle 45-32 including 13-3 on the offensive glass, which led to 10 second-chance points (10-4) for the Panthers. KWC also led its opponent in points off turnovers (7-5), points in the paint (32-14) and fast-break points (6-2) while Truman's bench was better to the tune of 21-11. If there's such thing as a good loss, Saturday is a mark in that column as the Bulldogs had their second-worst shooting effort of the year and still only lost to a top-tier team by one.

For much of the first half, the action was very back and forth as it saw six ties and five lead changes through the first 17 and a half minutes. That final changing of the guard put Kentucky Wesleyan up two, 28-26, and came in the midst of a 10-3 run to end the half for the Panthers that put them up four, 33-29. That marked the ninth time in 11 games this year Kentucky Wesleyan was ahead of its opponent at the half and owns a record of 8-1 in those contests. After the first 20 minutes, neither team was shooting particularly well from the field, but the home team held the advantage, 37.5 percent to 28.6 percent.

Out of the intermission, the hosts turned up the intensity by scoring the first nine points to extend their lead to 13, 42-29, and force a timeout from head coach, Chris Foster. Things didn't get any easier for the Bulldogs, though, as the Panthers would go on to lead by as many as 17, 50-33, with just over 15 minutes to go until the final buzzer. At that point, Kentucky Wesleyan had scored 24 of a possible 31 points going back to the 2:30 mark of the first half, or just over eight minutes of game time.

However, like Friday night, Truman picked itself back up off the canvas and began to land counterpunches. Over the next five and a half minutes, the Bulldogs mounted a furious rally and outscored the 32nd-ranked Panthers 20-5 to cut the margin to two, 55-53, with 9:46 to play. During that stretch, the visitors were a sizzling 6-of-8 from the floor to 2-for-10 by the home team, including 4-of-6 from behind the arc, and 4-for-6 at the free throw line with just one turnover. Leading the charge was Kyle Kanaskie with all six of his points and Messer with six of his 23. Truman had two chances to tie or take the lead, but was unable to take advantage.

The pace slowed and until the two-minute warning, each team tallied 15 points. With 2:01 to go, Kentucky Wesleyan was ahead by two, 70-68. Once the clock read one minute and 33 seconds, Messer dropped in his seventh and final three-pointer that put the Bulldogs up 71-70, their first lead since the 3:18 mark of the first half. After the Panthers went ahead by two, 73-71, with a trio of free throws, Myers sank a couple of his own to even things back up, 73-73.

With just 1.2 ticks remaining, Kentucky Wesleyan's Brandon Hatton was fouled by Velky, his fifth of the game, trying to throw up a shot and went to the charity stripe. Hatton made the first and missed the second before Truman called a timeout. The Bulldog coaching staff got 0.4 seconds added to the clock and had 0.9 to work with, but Kanaskie's full-court pass was stolen as time ran out.

Next up, Truman takes a 13-day break before hosting Central Christian on New Year's Eve with tip set for 3 p.m. inside Pershing Arena.

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