MARSHALL, Texas – The Louisiana Christian University men's basketball team held Wiley to just 18 first half points to pull away and cruised to a 95-58 season-opening win in the battle of the Wildcats Wednesday night at Wiley's Alumni Gymnasium.
 
Louisiana Christian (1-0) never trailed in the contest as Larry Lee scored the game and season's first four points for the orange and blue. After Wiley (1-1) got a bucket to make it 4-2, LCU went on a 13-0 run to open a sizable gap as a Drew Tebbe three-pointer made it 17-2 just a little over six minutes into the contest.
 
LCU's first half lead hit its peak right at the buzzer as Justice Kelly scored on a lay-up right at the horn, making it 46-18 Wildcats in black and orange as the two teams went to the locker room.
 
The visitors from Pineville took no time getting the lead to 30 for the first time out of the halftime break as Jalani Bell hit a couple free throws on the opening possession of the second half to make it 48-18.
 
Wiley would only get as close as 29 points throughout the entirety of the final 20 minutes as the Wildcats in white and purple would convert a free throw to finish a three-point play to cut the LCU lead down to 71-42 with 9:21 remaining.
 
LCU's largest lead of the game came less than four minutes later as a Bell lay-up pushed the advantage out to 41 points, 85-44, with 5:45 left in the contest and the trek to the finish line was on from there.
 
Chad Jones came off the bench to lead all scorers in the contest, going eight-of-13 from the field, including three-of-five from beyond the three-point arc, for 20 points. He also grabbed two rebounds and dished out an assist.
 
Bell and Kelly led the starters in scoring as both finished with 14 points. Kelly added five rebounds, two assists and a steal while Bell had three assists, two rebounds, a block and a steal as well.
 
Corey Lombard, Jr. also provided big scoring off the bench, finishing the night five-of-seven from the field for 12 points to go with three rebounds, an assist, and a block.
 
Lee ended his night with a double-double, matching his 11 points with 11 rebounds. He also came up with four steals, dished out a pair of assists, and blocked a shot.
 
LCU had a great night shooting in its season opener, hitting 52.9 percent from the field as a team while connected at a 44 percent clip from above the three-point arc. The Wildcats also hit at a 71.4 percent clip from the free throw line.
 
The home-standing Wildcats were held to just 21.4 percent in the first half but came up in the second half to finish the game hitting 40.4 percent in the game. Wiley also struggled from deep, connecting on just two of its 13 attempts from above the arc, 15.4 percent, and was just better than 50 percent from the charity stripe, hitting 10 of its 19 free throw attempts.
 
The Wildcats return to action on Sat., Nov. 8 in Mobile, Ala., taking on the University of Mobile. Tip-off against the Rams (1-0) is set for 2:30 p.m. at H. Austill Pharr Gymnasium.