Bethany dealt loss at Westminster, 74-66

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (Jan. 28) – The Bison were knocked off by Westminster 74-66 Saturday night in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) contest.

The Bethany College men's basketball team drops to 12-7 overall, 7-5 in the PAC. Meanwhile, the Titans improve to 8-4 in league play, 12-7 overall this season.

Four Bison scored in double-figures, led by junior guard Andrew Williams (Oil City, Pa./Oil City) who tallied 15 points. Junior guard Calique Jones (Pittsburgh, Pa./Obama Academy) tallied 13 points and a team-best eight rebounds, senior guard Antonio Rudolph (New Castle, Pa./New Castle) chipped in 11 points, while senior forward Javonte' Trujillo (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) added 10 in the loss.

Bethany raced out to an 18-12 lead over the first seven minutes of the game, capped off by a three pointer by Trujillo, to take the early edge.

Westminster trimmed the lead to two, 25-23, with eight minutes left in the first half, but the Bison held off the host Titans for the remainder of the period and took a 37-33 advantage into halftime.

Bethany built its lead to as many as nine, 44-35, on a dunk by junior center Liam Davis (Orlando, Fla./Orlando Christian) with 17:17 left in the game. Westminster turned the game around with a 12-2 run over the next six minutes to take its first lead of the game since the 16-minute mark of the first half, 47-46, with 11 minutes remaining in the contest.

After the two squads traded the lead for the next minute, the Titans pushed their lead to five, 57-52, with eight minutes left in the game. The Bison fought back with six-unanswered points to take the lead with 5:29 left in the game, but Westminster once again and reclaimed the lead. The Titans used an 11-3, sparked by 10 points from Jarret Vrabel, to take a 68-61 advantage with 1:43 left on the clock. Westminster put the game on ice by hitting 6-of-9 from the charity stripe in the final minute.

Westminster's Vrabel finished with a game-high 26 points and 12 rebounds to lead the team to the win.

The Bison return home on Wednesday, February 1 when they host PAC-foe Thomas More at 8 p.m.