Bison hold off Chatham, 71-70

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

PITTSBURGH (Feb. 15) – The Bethany College men's basketball team defeated Chatham 71-70 in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) game Wednesday night.

The win improves the Bison to 14-10 overall, 9-8 in the PAC. Meanwhile, the Cougars fall to 6-11 in league play, 10-14 overall.

With the game tied at 63-63, freshman forward Chaice Truex (Wheeling, W.Va./St. John Central (Ohio)) drained back-to-back shots to give the Bison the lead with under two minutes left in regulation. After each team exchanged baskets, a Chatham bucket with seven seconds on the clock made the score 69-67.

Junior guard Calique Jones (Pittsburgh, Pa./Obama Academy) drained a pair of free throws to push the lead to four, 71-67. Chatham hit a three in the final seconds to pull within one, but the Bison managed to run out the clock and preserve the victory.  

Senior guard Antonio Rudolph (New Castle, Pa./New Castle) registered his second double-double this season with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Truex, the reigning PAC Rookie of the Week, led Bethany with 19 points and added eight rebounds. Junior guard Andrew Williams (Oil City, Pa./Oil City) also reached double figures with 13 points in the win.

The Bison led for the majority of the first half, relinquishing the lead only once. After Chatham tied the game at 18 with 9:12 left in the first half, the Bison went on to out-score the Cougars 20-11 to take a 38-29 lead into the half.

A quick 6-1 spurt to open the second half helped Bethany build its biggest lead of the evening, 44-30, less than two minutes into the period. Chatham countered with nine-straight points to trim the lead down to 44-39, but the Bison maintained the lead. The Green & White led 52-46 with 11:23 remaining in the game, before 12-consecutive points by the Cougars propelled the hosts to a 58-52 lead with eight minutes left in the contest.

Bethany countered with an 11-3 run, including six unanswered of its own, to reclaim a 63-61 lead with just over three minutes on the clock.   

The Bison ended the game 30-for-53 (57 percent) from the field, compared to the 22-for-59 (37 percent) posted by Chatham. Bethany also held a 42-to-25 edge in the rebounding department.

Bethany will conclude the 2016-17 regular-season on Saturday, February 18 when it hosts Grove City for Senior Day at 4 p.m.