Bethany Men’s Basketball Edges Geneva on the Road
Jan. 27 – BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Bethany College men's basketball team used a second-half rally to take down Geneva College, 79-74, on Wednesday night. Junior Antonio Rudolph (New Castle, Pa./New Castle) recorded his fifth double-double of the year with 21 points and 10 rebounds as Bethany has won five of its' last six Presidents' Athletic Conference contests.
Bethany (12-6, 8-3 PAC) jumped out to an 8-4 lead behind Javonte Trujillo's (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) early four points.
Geneva (2-16, 2-9 PAC) responded with a run of their own and took the lead (18-16) at the 12:47 mark through the end of the first half. Geneva shot 16-of-29 (55.2%) during the opening twenty minutes.
The Golden Tornadoes led by as many by nine before consecutives baskets from Rudolph and Calique Jones (Pittsburgh, Pa./Obama Academy) cut the lead to 42-37 to end the half. Rudolph led the Bison with 14 points while Jones added 12 of his own in the first period.
The second half opened with an offensive flurry as both teams scored on their first four possessions.
Bethany finally broke the back-and-forth battle with a 10-1 run to take the lead, 53-51, with 13:21 remaining.
Geneva was able to tie the game at 54-54 before the Bison took the lead and never looked back.
A steal and finish on the other end from Trujillo followed by a Jones' tip-in gave Bethany the 58-54 advantage at the 10:32 mark.
The Green & White slowly built up their lead, including four-straight points from Alan Harper (Cleveland, Ohio/Cleveland Central Catholic) and a clutch triple from Andrew Williams (Oil City, Pa./Oil City) to put Bethany up 71-64 with 2:32 to play.
The Bison extended their advantage to as many as 10 in the final minute as they held on for the 79-74 victory.
Offensively, Bethany finished with 15 assists as a team and shot 44.7% (34-of-76) from the floor. Williams paced the Bison offense with five assists in the game.
Rudolph finished with 21 points and four assists, going 9-of-15 from the floor, while Jones collected 18 points on 9-of-16 shooting.
Multiple other Bison contributed to the cause as Darrian Bruster (Cleveland, Ohio/Cleveland Central Catholic) recorded nine points and nine boards, Harper and Williams each had seven points, Trujillo and Chris Harris (Brecksville, Ohio/Brecksville-Broadview Heights) had six points apiece, and Jerron Athey (Richmond, Va./Banner Christian) tallied five points.
Defensively, Bethany forced 16 turnovers and amassed nine steals as Rudolph, Trujillo, and Williams had two steals, each.
The Bison are currently tied for second in the PAC with Thomas More and trail the league-leading Saint Vincent Bearcats (9-1 PAC) by two games.
Bethany men's hoops will return to the court on Saturday, January 30 as they take on Thiel College on the road at 3:00 p.m.
