YORK, Neb. – The York University men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought 88-86 contest to #4 Oklahoma Wesleyan Wednesday evening.

The Panthers are now 9-16 overall, including 7-12 on the season.

Head coach Tree Burks' team was led by Jayden Henderson's 21-point effort. Cam Clardy added 14 points and six assists while Trevon Dennis chipped in 11 points. Dwight Glover and Salvador Fernandez totaled 10 points each. Devin Carroll notched nine points in the loss.

Trailing 22-12 in the early going, Fernandez canned a jumper. Dennis took a pass from Rhino Hernandez for an inside bucket at the 10:49 mark to slice the deficit to six, 22-16. Just 22 seconds later, Hernandez found Henderson for a three-ball, making it a one-possession game.

Down 31-21, Carroll buried a shot from downtown. Glover and Henderson connected on baskets just 14 seconds apart to once again cut the deficit to three, 31-28.  

Oklahoma Wesleyan responded and maintained a 48-40 lead at the break.

With the score at 50-42, Glover found Carroll for a three-point basket. Glover added three free throws at the 17:50 mark to pull within two. A 6-0 spurt in 61 seconds knotted the contest at 59-59 with 15:09 to play.

A three-point bucket by Dennis gave the home team a 65-64 lead with 11:38 to go. The visitors came back and held a 74-71 edge but Devondre Mayfield's lay-up started an 8-0 run. Fernandez canned back-to-back three-point shots for a 79-74 advantage with 5:15 to play. Oklahoma Wesleyan responded with a 12-2 spurt to take an 86-81 lead.

Glover took a pass from Clardy and nailed a shot from downtown at the 1:57 mark but the visitors answered with a dunk. Glover countered with a jumper with 48 seconds to go. York was unable to tie the game in the waning seconds.  

For the game, York hit 32-of-58 from the floor (55.2 percent), including 16-of-31 (51.6 percent) from downtown. The team dished out 20 assists and recorded 26 points off the bench.

The Panthers return to action Saturday when they host Bethel College for Senior Day starting at 8 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at Yorkpanthers.com.