Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball Season Review
The Season
On February 21st, the Pilots wrapped up the Mid-Central College Conference regular season crown with a 74-73 win over St. Francis in thrilling fashion. Down one point with under a minute to go, the Pilots found MCC Player of the Year William Walker in the middle of the lane and Walker powered up through the triple team to put in the game winning basket.
The win guaranteed a tie for the MCC regular season championship and solidified the Pilots’ grasp on the #1 seed in the conference tournament over Indiana Wesleyan. It also marked the second time in as many seasons that the Pilots finished atop the MCC regular season standings. The back-to-back regular season championships is the first time the Pilots have accomplished this feat in a decade, when the Pilots won back-to-back championships in 1998 and 1999.
Navigating their way through the MCC the past two seasons, the Pilots finished with a 12-4 mark in 2008 and improved upon that with a 13-3 mark in 2009. The Pilots record in the Wiekamp Athletic Center over these two seasons is 17-1, including a perfect 9-0 mark in 2009. The Pilots’ only loss at home in these two seasons was a 74-70 decision to Taylor on January 26th, 2008.
In each of these back-to-back championships, the Pilots outpaced Indiana Wesleyan and Grace atop the standings and registered a perfect 8-0 combined record against these two teams, who finished second and third both seasons.
The Pilots have won ten MCC regular season conference championships in the program’s history: 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2008 and 2009.
The MCC Tournament
For the first time since 1995 and 1996, the Pilots stormed through the MCC conference tournament in back-to-back seasons, winning the postseason conference crown in 2008 and again in 2009. The Pilots accomplished this feat from the #1 seed in both seasons, taking advantage of home court throughout the tournament.
In 2008, the Pilots opened up the current run of six straight MCC postseason wins with an 84-77 win over Saint Francis, completing the three-game season sweep over the Cougars. The Pilots, after getting swept in the regular season, flipped the script on the Taylor Trojans by a 67-57 decision.
In the MCC tournament championship, the Pilots again completed a three-game season sweep in convincing fashion, this time over the Grace Lancers, with a 73-46 victory lap around the MCC.
In 2009, the Pilots continued their romp of the MCC tournament, opening up with a 73-53 victory over the Trojans. In the semifinals, the Pilots exacted some revenge for one of their three regular season losses, with a 76-64 win over the Spring Arbor Cougars.
In a matchup of two NAIA top ten teams, the MCC tournament championship proved to be a battle from start to finish. The #6-ranked Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats gave the home team all they could handle, but it was the #3-ranked Pilots who came away with a 74-70 win to clinch their second straight tournament championship. The win also gave the Pilots the three-game sweep of the Wildcats, accounting for three of the seven losses by the Wildcats all season long.
The Pilots have won six MCC tournament titles in the program’s history: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2008 and 2009.
Player of the Year
The basketball program at Michigan City has been a hotbed of talent for the Pilots, with Theo Williams, Ricky Gooden and Jon Jones all suiting up in the Bethel blue and white at some point and Stephen Ward and Darrell Hopkins currently donning Pilots uniforms.
However, arguably the best player to make the transition from the Wolves to the Pilots has been William Walker, who recently capped his record-setting career by being named the 2009 NAIA Division II National Player of the Year while in Branson for the national tournament.
The National Player of the Year trophy adds to an already crowded trophy case for Walker, highlighted by the 2009 MCC Player of the Year Trophy, 2009 NCCAA National Player of the Year, 2007 NCCAA National Tournament MVP, 2009 1st-Team NAIA All-American, three Bethel Team MVPs and three 1st-Team All-MCC selections, as well as numerous other in-season tournament MVPs and other awards. Walker also had his jersey retired by Coach Mike Lightfoot at the team awards banquet in late March.
Walker was one of the most prolific players in Bethel history, tallying 2,415 points, 1,224 rebounds, 316 assists, 168 steals and 145 blocks in his career. He is one of four players in Pilots’ history with over 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 100 blocks in his career (Eric Brand, Jody Martinez and Dave Troyer).
He is also one of four players to have his jersey retired (Rico Swanson, Brand and Martinez), one of three players to win the Team MVP award three times (Martinez and Swanson) and one of only two players to be named NAIA National Player of the Year (Swanson).
