Bethany Uses Strong Second Half to Advance to Quarterfinals
Michael Schroeder
TOURNAMENT PAGE
By Michael Schroeder
BETHANY, W.Va. – Top-seeded Bethany College turned a six-point halftime deficit into a 71-66 win over Penn State Altoona in the first round of the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Men’s Basketball Championship.
Bethany (17-12) trailed at the break, 34-28, before outscoring fourth-seeded Penn State Altoona (19-8) in the second 20 minutes, 43-32.
Andrew Williams (Oil City, Pa.) paced Bethany with 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting, and
Calique Jones (Pittsburgh, Pa.) added 15 and seven rebounds.
Liam Davis (Orlando, Fla.) was also in double figures for Bethany with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Ishimeal Nance (Muscle Shoals, Ala.) led Penn State Altoona with 20 points, and
Cameron Gardner-Nicholson (Philadelphia, Pa.) led the squad with nine rebounds.
Bethany pulled within two points at 27-25 with 2:39 left in the first half, before Penn State Altoona poured in five-straight points, highlighted by a Nance slam dunk, to make it 32-25 just 27 seconds later.
Penn State Altoona made it a 7-0 run with 60 seconds to go and held the six-point advantage heading into the halftime locker room.
Penn State Altoona also led by six with 18:05 left in the game, before Bethany went on an 8-1 run to take a 38-37 lead with 15:57 to play. Penn State Altoona regained a lead as large as three, at 41-38 with 14:38 remaining, but Bethany poured in seven-straight points to take a lead it would not relinquish at 45-41.
Bethany led by as many as seven points twice down the stretch and ended up outshooting Penn State Altoona in the game, 42.4 percent to 36.2 percent. Penn State Altoona won the rebounding battle, 43-41.
Bethany got 36 of its points from the paint.
The game included five ties and eight lead changes.
Bethany will now face third-seeded Medaille College in the quarterfinals Friday afternoon at 2:00 (ET).
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