The Bethel College Pilots returned home on Tuesday night to host the Huntington University Foresters and registered a solid 89-80 victory to sweep the two game series from Huntington in 2012 with the Pilots winning six of the last eight meetings. The win improves Bethel's record to 16-11 on the season, and 7-8 in MCC play.
In the game's early minutes, Bethel and Huntington traded baskets until the Foresters took an 11-9 lead at the 12:21 mark of the period. It would be Huntington's only lead of the night as the Pilots used three consecutive baskets from Michael Mislan to tie, and then take a 15-11 lead. Steadily, the Pilots built their advantage to thirteen (32-19) with 6:26 remaining until halftime. Bethel still led by ten with 1:44 until the break, but the Foresters tallied the final six points of the period to draw to within 41-37 at intermission.
As the second stanza began, the visitors threatened to regain the lead as they pulled to within two points (49-47) four minutes into the period. However, a 13-6 spurt from the Pilots pushed the margin back to nine (62-53) with 10:00 left to play. And five minutes later, the Bethel lead reached thirteen once again (75-62), and the Foresters were unable to get any closer than seven the rest of the way.
Offensively, the Pilots turned in a balanced attack, led by Zach Miller with 21 points and 3 assists. Matt Schauss poured in 20 points to go with 6 rebounds. Landon Booker turned in a solid effort with 11 points, 6 assists and 4 steals. Michael Mislan came off the bench and contributed 10 points and 9 boards while Darrell Hopkins also chipped in with 10 points and 6 rebounds. As a team, the Pilots dished out 18 assists compared to just 11 turnovers for the game, and won the rebounding battle 41-34.
The Pilots will return to action on Saturday afternoon as they will host the Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats (No. 15 NAIA D-II). Bethel defeated IWU earlier this season by the score of 83-80 in Marion, Indiana. Tip-off in the Wiekamp Athletic Center is set for 3:00pm.
