Bethel Cruises Over Marian
February 24, 2010
The No. 10 ranked Bethel College Pilots opened play in the 2010 MCC post season tournament on Wednesday night by hosting the Marian University Knights, and cruised to an 89-57 victory. With the win, the Pilots improve to 26-5 on the campaign while the Knights close out their season with a 13-15 mark.
Both teams got off to a rather sluggish start as the offenses had a difficult time finding the basket. As a result, the Pilots held an 11-10 lead at the 10:56 mark of the period. However, Bethel then went on a big 18-5 run to extend their lead to 29-15 with 4:27 left until the break. And when Bethel’s Wes Laidig hit a bucket just before half, the Pilots had their largest lead at intermission, 40-21.
The second half began with the Pilots scoring the first four points to extend to a 44-21 advantage, and the margin grew steadily throughout the rest of the game. A basket from Jordan Bowerman at the 9:48 mark gave the Pilots a 30 point cushion (61-31), and a field goal from Derek Moser with 1:08 remaining gave the Pilots their largest lead of the contest at 87-52.
Balanced scoring has been a strength for Bethel all season and this game was certainly no exception as six Pilots hit for double figure scoring. Leading the way was Tony Benford with 14 points and 9 rebounds followed by Tyler Brown with 13 points to go with 9 boards. Jordan Bowerman came off the bench to score 12 points for the Pilots while Ryne Lightfoot, Wes Laidig and Derek Moser each tallied 10 points for the game. Lightfoot accounted for a game high 7 assist, and Caleb Laidig grabbed 10 rebounds for the Pilots.
As a team, Bethel dominated in several statistical areas. The Pilots shot 54% from the field while holding Marian to just 34% shooting. And Bethel held a commanding 52-20 rebounding advantage.
Afterwards, Bethel head coach Mike Lightfoot commented: “I thought our guys put forth a solid defensive effort from start to finish tonight. Keeping them off the boards and limiting them to one shot really helped jump start us offensively. We struggled early, but things began clicking once we got our transition game going.”
Bethel will return to action on Saturday afternoon as they will host the No. 21 ranked Spring Arbor University Cougars in semifinal action of the 2010 MCC Tournament. Tip-off is set for 3:00pm in the Wiekamp Athletic Center.