Thurbil Bile (JR/Centennial, Colo.) is happy to be playing basketball at Kansas Wesleyan. There’s no doubt Kansas Wesleyan is mighty happy he’s here as well.
Bile, a 6-foot-5, ultra-athletic forward, announced his arrival in a big way with 10 points, 15 rebounds and two blocked shots while helping the Coyotes roll over Doane 70-50 Saturday inside Mabee Arena.
Bile played at Lamar Community College (Colo.) last season and has found a home in KWU’s starting lineup this season.
“Juco is a dog-eat-dog world and coming in I brought that mentality with me,” he said. “Here at KW, we battle each other every day in practice – iron sharpens iron type of thing – and we try to carry that over to games and let that carry us through. I’m glad I’m here.”
Alex Littlejohn (SO/Newton, Kan.) had his second double-double in two nights finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds and Jun Murdock (JR/Wichita, Kan.) added 11 points and three assists. The Coyotes improved to 2-0 with their second stellar performance of the weekend.
Bile utilizes his long arms and uncanny jumping ability in creating problems for opposing teams.
“No doubt I’m defensive minded,” he said. “Defense wins games. Hold teams under 60 (points) and defense will get us going on the offensive end. We proved that here today.”
KWU coach Anthony Monson, who notched his 100th victory at KWU in Friday’s victory over Bellevue, was ecstatic with the dual double-doubles from Bile and Littlejohn.
“They are versatile, they can do so many different things,” he said. “It’s a matchup nightmare with them. We’re figuring how to use T (Bile) and we’ll figure out how to use him more and more.
“Plus, he’s taken that leadership role, you can tell. He’s very serious on the court, he wants to be great. It’s not just I’m a fresh new voice, it’s I’m a leader and captain on the team and he’s rolling with that.”
The Coyotes shot 46.6 percent (27 of 58), limited Doane (1-2) to 29.5 percent (18 of 61) and easily won the rebounding battle 47-30. They also had 11 assists on 27 made field goals.
“I feel like we should have scored more points than we did,” Monson said. “We only got to 70 but at the same time when you get stop after stop after stop it allows you a little bit more freedom on the offensive end.
“We’re finding some things offensively, things that work. We’re adjusting to a new offensive game right now and will gain a lot more freedom. We’ll just keep building on that. As long as we keep guarding like we’re doing it’s going to give us the freedom to do some things offensively.”
Bile said he appreciates the tremendous depth the Coyotes have.
“Honestly this is the deepest team I’ve been on,” he said. “I feel like whoever’s coming in there’s no drop-off whatsoever. I can be subbed out and I’m completely happy with who’s coming in for me in the game.”
Monson agrees.
“I was nervous going into the year not having any scrimmages, we only got to intrasquad scrimmage ourselves,” he said. “Looking at that now it was probably better than a scrimmage because we’re very deep and very talented. Coming into the year we didn’t know what we have even though we return a lot.
“It seems to be working well. The guys are buying in, they’re having fun and there’s a lot of excitement on the bench. It’s fun to coach a group like that but have to be humble, we have to push each other every day and we can’t get complacent. We’ve got to stay hungry.”
The Coyotes took charge midway through the first half. Leading 17-15 they scored nine consecutive points and closed the half with a 21-6 surge that gave them a 38-22 lead at the break. An 11-0 burst in the second half extended their advantage from 56-40 to 67-40 with six minutes left.
KWU plays Manhattan Christian at 7 p.m. Tuesday inside Mabee Arena in another non-conference game before opening Kansas Conference play against arch rival Bethany on November 16.
