Late Heroics Fall Short for MBB

PITTSBURGH, Pa – The Bethany Bison traveled to Pittsburgh to take on the Chatham Cougars, who are atop the conference entering the new year. Bethany got hot at the wrong time and became victim to the clock, suffering a 90–81 loss to their Presidents Athletic Conference opponent.

The Bethany offense has an unfortunate habit of starting slow this season, and this game was no exception. The Bison shot 31% in the first half, and just 26% from three. Chatham, on the other hand, came out on fire shooting 61% through that same stretch.

Forced turnovers was what kept the Green in the game. They had 24 points off turnovers in the game, over a quarter of their total points. A large portion of those came in the second half, which were what the Bison were able to build on offensively.

Troy Hixson had a huge second half scoring 17 points. That second half performance would have tied Cole Dailey for the leading scorer of the entire game. Hixson's late three in the first half bumped him into the clear lead with 20 total points. 

Hixson had twelve points from range, but the rest of the Bison were able to put up more points inside. Bethany collectively shot over 42% from the floor. However, the team's three point percentage stayed in the twenties at 27%. Bethany made shots when they needed to in terms of keeping the game within reach, but the men started a bit too late to make a complete comeback. 

At one point in the early part of the second half, Chatham was up 21 points (56-35). Within the last minute of the game, Bethany chopped the deficit to seven. The Bison weren't able to make any last second heroics happen, falling to the Cougars 90-81.

INSIDE THE BOX & NOTES

• Bethany played a slower game than normal, only scoring nine points on fast breaks.

• The Bison did have success offensively rebounding, scoring 25 second chance points.

• The game was arguably the most physical game all season. A total of 43 personal fouls were called. There were also three combined technical fouls; the most to date this season. 

Bethany (5-6, 0-6 PAC) will look to get their first conference win in a home matchup against Saint Vincent (8-3, 4-2 PAC) Wednesday at 7:30pm in Hummel Field House.