MCKENZIE, Tenn. – The Bethel Wildcats led Martin Methodist by twenty with 11:20 left in the second half Saturday night at Crisp Arena and appeared to be ready to cruise to a big win but credit the RedHawks as they battled back to tie the game at 77 all. Bethel did not lose their composure however as they outscored the Hawks 5-1 in the final seconds and won 82-78 over their SSAC rivals.
The Wildcats moved to 9-3 overall and 3-1 in the SSAC. MMC dropped to 3-6 and 0-3.
Bethel's bench was a huge factor in the game out scoring MMC 33-14. Both squads had their share of turnovers with MMC committing 29 in the contest while Bethel had 21. The Cats had the better of it in points off turnovers with a 31-19 margin.
Martin Methodist outshot the Cats from the field hitting 27-of-55 at 49 percent. The Wildcats shot 43 percent hitting 28-of-64 attempts. The Hawks had eight three's on 21 attempts. The Wildcats hit 4-of-12 from downtown. Although they only shot 56 percent from the foul line the Wildcats hit six more free throws at 22-of-39 from the charity stripe. MMC was 16-of-26. Both teams had 39 rebounds each. The Wildcats had 17 steals with Chase Nappier leading the way with five.
Isaac Edmondson led Bethel's attack with 18 points. He also grabbed eight rebounds. Edmondson has scored 1, 540 points in his career. He is one of only 13 players in Bethel history to score 1, 500 points or more as a Wildcat. Bradley Walker tossed in 14 points. Nappier finished with 13 points while Cayden Edmonson and Foday Sankaray each contributed with 12 points. Braxton Nappier had a game high five assists.
Adrian Smith led MMC with a game high 22 points. Javonte Cooper had 19 points while Isaiah finished with 15 points.
The two squads meet again in Pulaski on February 9.
Coach Jeff Britt was proud of how his team prevailed after giving up the lead. "We are certainly not happy about giving up the big lead but we are thrilled with how our guys responded at the end. We kept our composure and made the big plays to win. Jacob Rose took a big charge there at the end and everyone contributed in some form. We will have to shoot our free throws better and cut down our turnovers to reach our potential." Britt added, "We will take some time off and report back right after Christmas and prepare for our exhibition at Murray State. We wish all our fans a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and thank them for their great support."
The Wildcats meet Murray State in Murray December 29. Bethel returns to regular season play January 3 at Florida College and January 5 at Brewton-Parker. Their next home game is January 10 hosting arch-rival Loyola.
