Bison take down Chatham, 78-64

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

• Box Score

PITTSBURGH (Jan. 17) - Led by a balanced scoring effort in which 12 different players scored points, the Bison knocked off Chatham 78-64 Wednesday night in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) game at the Athletics and Fitness Center. 

The Bethany College men's basketball team improves to 7-2 against league opponents at the halfway point of the PAC schedule, 7-9 overall. Bethany is currently tied with Saint Vincent for second place in the PAC standings. Meanwhile, the Cougars fall to 4-12 overall, 1-8 in conference play.

Sophomore forward Chaice Truex (Wheeling, W.Va./St. John's Central) registered his third double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds to help lead the team to the win.  Senior center Liam Davis (Orlando, Fla./Orlando Christian Prep) led the Bison offensively with 13 points, while senior guard Calique Jones (Pittsburgh, Pa./Obama Academy) chipped in 12 points. In the process, Jones passed former Bison Phil Harrison (1960-64) for 11th all-time in scoring in school history and sits at 1,250 points for his career.

Bethany trailed 9-6 five minutes into the game, before senior guard Andrew Williams (Oil City, Pa./Oil City) kicked off a 15-2 run with a basket-and-one and a three pointer on consecutive possessions. The Bison would get baskets from five different players during the stretch and built a 21-11 lead with 10:22 remaining in the first half.

Chatham closed the gap to six points near the five minute-mark, but Bethany ended the half strong. The Bison went on a 7-2 run, capped off with a Williams jump shot near the buzzer, to head into the locker rooms with a 37-26 lead.

Bethany connected on three of its first four shot attempts in the second half to push its lead to 45-30 with 16:37 left in the contest. The Cougars knocked down shots over the next eight minutes, but the Bison had an answer each time. Sophomore guard Aiden Albert (Saxonburg, Pa./Knoch) connected on a jumper with 8:39 remaining in the game to give Bethany a 59-43, when Chatham's Alex Schoppen drained treys on back-to-back possessions to get the Cougars within 10 points with under eight minutes on the clock.

The Bison rebuilt their lead by draining each of their next five shot attempts during a 10-2 stretch that gave Bethany a 69-51 lead with just under five minutes remaining in the game.

The Green & White won the rebounding battle, out-rebounding the Cougars 43-to-30 in the game. Bethany shot 34-of-65 (52 percent) from the field, compared to the 24-of-60 (40 percent) posted by Chatham. The 78 points scored by the Bison is a single-game high this season.

Bethany will open the back-nine of its PAC schedule when it hosts Waynesburg on Saturday, January 20 at 3 p.m.