Bethany races past Chatham on Senior Night, 82-59

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

• Box Score

BETHANY, W.Va. (Feb. 14) - Three players scored 20 points, as the Bison dominated the second half in their 82-59 win over Chatham Wednesday evening on Senior Night at the Hummel Field House.

The Bethany College men's basketball team improves to 14-3 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), 14-10 overall. Bethany can clinch the No. 2 seed in next week's PAC Tournament with a win at Grove City this Saturday. Meanwhile, Chatham falls to 6-18 overall, 3-14 in conference play. 

Senior center Liam Davis (Orlando, Fla./Orlando Christian Prep) led the Bison with a double-double of 20 points and a career-high 16 rebounds in the win. Senior guards Calique Jones (Pittsburgh, Pa./Obama Academy) and Andrew Williams (Oil City, Pa./Oil City) each scored 20 points, with Jones also matching a season-high nine rebounds.

Chatham quickly asserted its biggest lead of the night with eight-unanswered points in the first minute of the game to force an early timeout from the Bethany bench. The Bison recovered and mounted a 13-2 run to take the lead at the 14:13-mark of the first half. Chatham eventually ran its lead back to six, 24-18, with 8:04 remaining in the first half, but the Bison out-scored the Cougars 19-to-8 down the stretch to head into the locker rooms with a 37-32 lead.

Bethany asserted itself in the opening eight minutes of the second half with an 18-4 run that essentially put the game out of reach at 55-36 with 11:53 left in the game. Chatham got as close as 13, 66-53, with 7:10 remaining in the contest with the help of a trio of layups off of turnovers. The Cougars had a chance to get closer, but a huge offensive rebound that led to a Jones three-point shot rebuilt the Bison lead to 69-53 with six minutes left in the game. The Bison would limit Chatham to just three more points over the game's final six minutes to close out the team's 14th PAC win this season.    

Bethany shot 49 percent (33-of-67) for the game and out-rebounded Chatham 49-to-29 on the glass. The Bison dominated the post, finishing with a healthy 58-to-32 advantage in points-in-the-paint.

Chatham was led by Isaiah Brown who finished with 12 points in the loss.

Prior to the game, Bethany honored its seven senior student-athletes for their contributions to the program, including Davis, Jones, Williams, Nick Metz (Pittsburgh, Pa./OLSH), Christian Harris (Cleveland, Ohio/Breckville-Broadview Heights), Jerron Athey (Richmond, Va./Banner Christian) and Zach Nahra (Mayfield Heights, Ohio/Mayfield).

Bethany has a chance to lock-up the No. 2 seed in the PAC Tournament when they close the regular-season at Grove City on Saturday, February 17 at 3 p.m.