Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball Wins MCC Championship
Game Summary
The 2009 MCC Tournament Championship game featured a battle between the top two teams in the conference and it was the No. 3 Bethel College Pilots claiming their second consecutive tournament title with a 74-70 victory over the No. 6 Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats. Even though the Bethel student body was on spring break, a large crowd filled the Wiekamp Athletic Center and was treated to a classic match-up in which the Pilots ran their consecutive home win streak to 22, completing its’ first ever undefeated home season in the new facility.
The Wildcats struck first jumping in front 4-0 and led until the 10:02 mark of the half when William Walker gave the Pilots their first lead of the night 22-20. The margin would reach six before the Wildcats responded and knotted the contest at 26-26 with 7:10 left in the period. After trading baskets the rest of the way, it was IWU leading at the break 41-39.
The Pilots came out strong in the second period hitting the Wildcats with a 17-7 run to build a 56-48 advantage at the 13:54 mark. However, the visitors weren’t done as they answered with a 15-6 spurt to take a one point lead (63-62) with 8:16 remaining. As expected, the championship game came down to the final 3:00 of action as the contest was tied at 66-66 and IWU in possession of the ball. Stiff defensive pressure from the Pilots forced a Wildcat turnover leading to a thunder dunk from Walker put Bethel up 68-66 with 2:40 left. An IWU miss after a time-out coupled with another key Bethel basket from Mark Lettinga gave the Pilots a four point cushion (70-66) with 1:41 remaining. The Pilots sealed the deal by converting four of four free throws in the final seconds, capturing the title.
Leading the way for Bethel was senior Mark Lettinga with 19 points on 8 for 11 shooting from the field and coming up with 3 steals defensively. Tyler Brown was next with 18 points, 6 boards, and 3 assists for the game. William Walker tallied 15 points including some spectacular dunks along the way, and hauled down 8 rebounds and dished out a game-high 6 assists. Walker also came up big defensively with 4 steals and 3 blocked shots.
The Pilots, owners of an amazing season record of 30-3, now await the bracket for the 2009 NAIA National Championships which run March 11-17 in Branson, Missouri.
