Second Half Deficit Too Much for Bison to Overcome

Second Half Deficit Too Much for Bison to Overcome

Latrobe, Pa - The Bethany College men's basketball team fell to St. Vincent 89-65 Saturday evening inside the Carey Center. The Bison were led by Senior Malik Ellis and junior Aiden Albert with 12 points apiece. The green and white fall to 1-12, 0-5 while St. Vincent is now 12-2, 5-0.

GAME OVERVIEW

1st- Bethany and St. Vincent went neck and neck in the first five minutes in the game. Aiden Albert contributed the first five points for the Bison. St. Vincent led 10-5 after a St. Vincent timeout with 15:09 to go in the half. A layup from Allayasa Bray cut the Bearcats' lead back to five, but the Bearcats answered with a jumper of their own making it a 14-7 ballgame. The Bison cut the lead to five with a Bray layup and a Dylan Furlong shot from behind the arc, making the score 17-12. The Bearcats built the lead back up to eight before the Bison battled back and sliced the lead to three.

An Aiden Albert layup brought the Bison back within one 19-18. St. Vincent answered back with a jumper and a layup, building the lead back up to five, 23-18. The Bison and Bearcats see-sawed back and forth. The green and white cut the lead to two from a Bray trey, and the green and gold answered with a layup from Ryan Dutton, making the score 25-21.

A Malik Ellis three brought the Bison within one, but the Bearcats responded with a layup, with 2:46 to go in the first half, leading 31-28. The Bison saw the lead grow to by as many as seven before cutting the lead to five from a pair of Ellis' free throws. The Bison trailed 35-30 at the half.

2nd- Ellis got the Bison started in the second half, hitting a three and getting a layup to cut the lead to three, 38-35. The Bearcats built the lead back up to seven before the Bison chipped away to get within four, from a Furlong layup, 43-39.

The Bison and Bearcats exchanged buckets before the lead was built to 12, with the Bearcats leading 54-42. A Trent Uphold layup broke the St. Vincent run, making it a 10 point game, 56-46.

Logan Wolverton cut the lead to seven with an old fashion 3-point play with 10:28 to go in the second half. The Bearcats countered with an offensive rebound and tip in from Mike Simmons, 58-49. The Bison slowly saw the lead grow to 17 before Dylan Furlong laid one in to break the Bearcat momentum. Trey Shifflett added a 3-point play to cut the lead to 14, 68-54.

The green and white cut the lead to 13 from a Shifflett layup but the Bison couldn't hold off the Bearcats momentum. The Bearcats commanding lead was too much for the Bison to overcome.

IN THE BOX SCORE
Malik Ellis and Aiden Albert led the Bison with 12 points each. Ellis led the Bison with seven rebounds
Dylan Furlong added nine points and pulled in five rebounds
Allayasa Bray contributed nine points
Trey Shifflett dished out a team high three assists and added seven points
• The Bison had 11 turnovers compared to the Bearcats 14

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Nick Hager:

"The guys played hard tonight and I thought we had our chances throughout the game. With a team like SVC and how many weapons they have, we needed to execute on both ends of the floor and I think we left lots of opportunities that we didn't take advantage of. We'll get back to work and prepare for Westminster. #OneBethany"

UP NEXT
Bethany returns home to take on Westminster for a PAC matchup on Wednesday Jan. 9. Tip-off is set for 7:30 pm.