Feb. 10, 2008

MISHAWAKA, Ind. -- The tenth-ranked Bethel (Ind.) College Pilots hosted the Goshen (Ind.) College Maple Leafs on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 9) before the largest crowd of the season (est. 2257) and put forth a solid effort by posting an 86-73 win. The victory not only improved the Pilot season record to 21-5 and 9-3 in the MCC, but was the program's 1000th win in school history.

Bethel trailed only once in this one at 3-2 before taking an 8-3 lead four minutes into the game. The margin grew to nine (28-19) before the Leafs went on an 8-0 run to trim the difference to just one at 28-27. However, the Pilots were able to maintain the advantage and went to the intermission ahead 41-37.

Many times this season, Bethel has used the opening minutes of the second half to distance themselves from their opponent, and Saturday was no exception. Scoring the first 9 points of the second period put the Pilots up, 50-37. However, Goshen answered with a 20-9 spurt to cut the margin to 59-57 with 10:00 remaining. The Pilot lead was still just two (63-61) with 8:43 left to play when Bethel went on the decisive 21-6 run over the next six minutes to secure an 84-67 lead and victory was all but locked up.

The balanced Pilot offensive attack placed five players in doubles figures. Leading the way was Tyler Brown who poured in 23 points on 8 of 12 shooting from the floor and 7 of 8 from the charity line. Brown also grabbed 8 rebounds and had 3 blocks at the defensive end. William Walker posted another double-double tallying 17 points and hauling down 12 rebounds to go with 4 assists.

Wes Laidig came off the bench to contribute 16 points on 7 of 9 shooting from the field. Ryne Lightfoot chipped in with 13 points and 7 assists while Kory Lantz scored 10 points and handed out 4 assists. Mark Lettinga had a solid outing as well with 7 points and 6 boards for the Pilots. As a team, the Pilots shot 58% from the field and 73% from the free throw line. Bethel also established a large edge over Goshen on the boards, 41-29.

"We had a great two days of practice leading up to today", stated Bethel assistant coach Tony Natali, "and I thought that set the tone for the game. There were some moments when we didn't look poised, but for the most part, we played with a lot of focus. The first five minutes of each half are very important to us, and we did well during those stretches today."