Men's basketball downed by Thomas More, 69-53

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

BETHANY, W.Va. (Feb. 1) – The Bethany College men's basketball team was dealt a 69-53 loss by Thomas More in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) game Wednesday night.

The Bison fall to 12-8 overall, 7-6 in the PAC. Meanwhile, the Saints, who were tabbed the preseason-favorite in the league, improve to 10-3 in the PAC, 14-6 overall.

Junior guard Andrew Williams (Oil City, Pa./Oil City) led the Bison with 21 points on 8-of-12 (66 percent), including 5-of-9 from long range, while classmate Calique Jones (Pittsburgh, Pa./Obama Academy) added 18 points in the loss.

Both teams struggled from the field early in the game. Junior forward Chris Harris (Brecksville, Ohio/Broadview Heights) connected on a jump shot with 10:46 left in the first half that gave the Bison an 11-10 edge. Thomas More answered with nine-straight points to take a 19-11 advantage, but Bethany battled back with a trio of buckets to pull within three, 21-18, with just over three minutes until the break. The Saints padded their cushion heading into the locker rooms with a pair of jump shots to take a 26-18 lead into halftime.

Bethany opened up the second half on an 11-5 run to close the gap to two, 31-29, but eight-unanswered points by Thomas More rebuilt the lead to 10, 39-29, with 13:05 remaining in regulation. The Saints continued to build upon its advantage over the final 10 minutes and pulled away for the win.

A total of 10 Saints registered points, with Junior Stockwell lead Thomas More with 11 points in the victory.

The Bison are back on the hardwood on Saturday, February 4 when they head to Greenville, Pennsylvania to take on Thiel at 3 p.m.