Men's Basketball
Walker's Bucket Lifts Pilots To MCC Championship On Senior Day
Game Summary
The NAIA DII No. 3 Bethel College Pilots needed a win at home on Saturday versus the University of St. Francis Cougars in order to claim their second consecutive MCC title, and the Pilots came through in dramatic fashion. It took a William Walker basket with 0:03 left to play to give the Pilots a heart-stopping 74-73 victory propelling them into the upcoming MCC Tournament as the number one seed.
The Senior Day contest began with Bethel jumping out to a quick 8-2 lead. However, the Cougars fought back to knot the score at 13-13 before the Pilots answered with a 12- 3 run to re-take a 25-16 advantage. Once again, the visitors clawed their way back into contention as they finished the half with an 11-5 spurt to draw to within three at the break (30-27).
The Pilots came out and hit the Cougars with an early 6-0 run to increase their lead to 36-27 before a St. Francis timeout. Afterwards, the Cougars countered with an 11-2 run of their own to knot the game at 38-38 with 15:42 left to play. The Pilots were able to retain a slim lead of between one and four points over the next twelve minutes of play, but a Cougar three-point basket put them in front 66-65 with 2:57 remaining. After trading baskets, another three-point bucket pushed the Cougar lead to 71-67 with 1:56 left. Bethel’s William Walker then converted an old-fashioned three-point play to draw the Pilots back to within a single point (71-70). But USF answered with a basket and again led 73-70 at the 1:34 mark. A Cougar foul put Walker on the line where he converted both attempts making it 73-72 with under a minute left in regulation. The Pilot defense then created a huge Cougar turnover with 0:14 remaining, and after a Bethel timeout, Walker cashed in the game winner with 3.5 seconds showing on the clock. Still, the Cougars had one last chance, but a final shot from the baseline was off the mark and the Pilots celebrated as 2008-09 MCC regular season co-champions.
The Pilots were led in scoring by Walker’s huge 31 point, 12 rebound effort. In addition, Walker recorded 4 assists and had no turnovers in 39 minutes of action. Mark Lettinga and Caleb Laidig each had 10 points while Tyler Brown chipped in with 9 points and 9 boards for the day. Two key stats in the Bethel win were forcing 18 Cougar turnovers while hitting 18 of 20 from the charity line for 90%.
The Pilots, now 27-3 for the season and 13-3 in conference play, will begin MCC Tournament action on Wednesday night, February 25th as they will host Taylor University at 7:00 pm in the Wiekamp Athletic Center.
