Men's Basketball: Lions shock Bison in season opener

Drew VonScio, Student Assistant for Athletic Communications 

LEMONT FURNACE, PA – The Bethany men's basketball team opened up their 2022-2023 regular season on the road at Penn State-Fayette Tuesday night. Despite a strong attempt to come back in the second half, Bethany suffered its first loss of the year by a score of 94-73.

Chance Wells put Bethany on the board just 29 seconds into the contest which gave the Bison an early advantage, but the Lions quickly took the lead. The Bison kept it within reach through the first 10 minutes of the opening half, only trailing by six points and keeping it a two-possession game. However, a lack of execution offensively caused the Green and White to see their deficit expand significantly as PSU-Fayette went on a 28-16 run over the back half of the opening frame to solidify a 50-32 lead heading into the break.

The Lions tacked on the first six points of the second half to see their lead improve to a whopping 24 points. Cole Dailey got the first points for the Bison in the second half with a layup followed by a three-pointer from Brendan Riggs. Bethany trailed by 19 and could not cut into the Lions' lead any more despite a successful second-half that saw Bethany put up 41 points in a much-improved effort from the first 20 minutes of play.

Bethany shot much better from distance than Penn State-Fayette as the visitors went 11-26 (42.3%) compared to just 5-24 (20.8%) for the hosts. The Lions were more focused on scoring in the paint as they outscored the Bison in that regard 64-32. Chance Wells and Cole Dailey accounted for 35 of the 73 points for the Green and White as they put on a show in their first games as Bison.

Bethany is back in action on Saturday, Nov. 12 when they play host to Penn State-Behrend inside Hummel Fieldhouse. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 PM.