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01.02.08 -
It was a
NAIA Top 25 battle between to MCC rivals with the 24th-ranked
Bethel College Pilots (14-3, 2-1) getting the upset at home 74-67 over
the 12th-ranked Foresters (12-4, 2-1).
The
Pilots jumped out to an early 12-4 lead and never trailed in the
contest. The margin grew to fifteen at 28-13 with 6:35 to play before
the Foresters rallied to get within six at 32-26 at the 3:08 mark. HU
went cold from the field down the stretch to allow Bethel to increase
their advantage back to 10 (38-28) at the break.
The
second period began with a 14-4 HU run to knot the contest at 42-42.
The Pilots responded with their own 13-2 spurt to go back in front
55-44 with 12:58 left to play. The Foresters again began to chip away
at the deficit and managed to pull within one at 68-67 on a Doug
Sheckler jumper with just under two minutes to play. On Bethel’s next
possession, Ryne Lightfoot missed a jumper, but Tyler Brown came up
with a big offensive rebound that led to a William Walker dunk to put
the Pilots up 70-67 with 1:23 remaining. After a pair of Forester
misses, Lightfoot fed Brown for a huge bucket at the 0:33 mark to put
the game out of reach.
Sheckler
took game-high honors with 22 points for HU. Kevin Kyle and Tyler
Shively each added 15 and Kyle Benge finished with 13. Four Bethel
players reached double figures led by William Walker with 20 points
and a game-high 13 rebounds. Mark Lettinga had 17 points going 7 for 7
from the field and grabbed 10 boards. Brown and Lightfoot each chipped
in with 13 points. A pair of stats made a big difference in the game
as Bethel shot 56% from the field compared to just 42% for the
Foresters and the Pilots’ dominated the boards, out-rebounding HU 43
to 19.
Box Score
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