Men's basketball falls to W&J, 72-61

Men's basketball falls to W&J, 72-61

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

BETHANY, W.Va. (Feb. 11) – The Bison were handed a 72-61 loss by Washington & Jefferson Saturday evening in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) meeting.

The Bethany College men's basketball team falls to 13-10 overall, 8-8 in league play. Meanwhile, the Presidents improve to 3-13 in the PAC, 3-20 overall this season.

Junior guard Andrew Williams (Oil City, Pa./Oil City) finished with a team-best 13 points, while junior guard Calique Jones (Pittsburgh, Pa./Obama Academy) and freshman forward Chaice Truex (Wheeling, W.Va./St. John Central (Ohio)) each added 11 points in the loss.

Bethany opened up its largest lead of the game with a 15-10 advantage following a Jones jump shot with 10:24 remaining in the first half. The two teams traded the lead a handful of times over the following minutes, until a three pointer by freshman Lance DeZee (Berlin Center, Ohio/Western Reserve) matched the Bison's biggest lead of the day at 27-22 with just over three minutes left in the half. A trey by W&J in the final seconds sent Bethany into the half leading 27-25.

Washington & Jefferson reclaimed the lead two minutes into the second half at 33-31 and did not relinquish it. The Presidents' led by as many as 13 points and dealt the Bison their eighth loss in conference play this season.

Bethany finished the game 4-for-7 (57 percent) from the charity stripe, compared to the 21-for-28 (75 percent) posted by W&J.

Washington & Jefferson was led by Mike Zappala, who finished with a game-high 22 points.

The Bison are back on the hardwood on Wednesday, February 15 when they travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to take on Chatham around 8 p.m.