KANSAS CITY, Mo. —The Bethel Wildcats and the John Brown Golden Eagles tipped off the 82nd NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship Wednesday morning at the historic Municipal Arena in downtown Kansas City. The No. 5 seeded Wildcats used a late surge in the first half to run out to a 34-24 lead at halftime. That lead held up as the Wildcats pulled off the slight upset knocking off the No. 5 seeded Golden Eagles 77-57.
The Liston Bracket victory was the first ever for the Wildcats in the championship. They had lost to Pikeville in 2015. It was only the second meeting ever between the two programs which is now tied at one each. JBU beat Bethel 73-71 in McKenzie in 1977.
The 18th ranked Wildcats moved to 25-8 while John Brown finished their season at 23-11.
The Wildcats shot 45 percent hitting 29-of-64 attempts from the floor. The Cats hit five three-pointers on 19 attempts. They were 14-of-24 from the free throw line. Bethel had a commanding advantage in rebounding at 47-34. The Wildcats are 20-5 when they out rebound their opponents. They grabbed 35 defensive rebounds and held JBU to just seven offensive boards.
JBU shot 33 percent hitting 20-of-60 shots. They nailed eight three's and were 9-of-14 from the charity stripe.
Bethel had a 42-18 advantage in points in the paint.
Isaac Edmondson led the Wildcats with 28 points. He also grabbed six rebounds and had four assists. Charles Cobb followed with 13 points. Noah Chatman and Cayden Edmonson grabbed seven rebounds each. Bradley Walker led the Wildcats with eight boards.
The victory was especially a sweet one coming on the birthday of Assistant Coach Aaron Johnson.
Coach Jeff Britt said, "I am extremely proud of our young men and their tremendous effort today. They listened to the pre-game scout we had prepared and they did a good job executing off that today. They worked hard and for the most part were very focused."
Highlight video by; The Victory Sports Network
http://www.victorysportsnetwork.com/video/movie/id.330.html
The Wildcats will face (1) LSU -Alexandria who defeated (8) Central Baptist 81-74 Wednesday afternoon. The Generals are ranked No. 2 in the nation. The game will be Friday at 10:45 a.m.
Live stats: http://www.dakstats.com/Websync/Pages/Webcasts.aspx?association=10
Fans can watch the Bethel games with live video at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/naia/
Catch the action on WEIO, 100.9 and at http://thefarmradio.com/listenlive/
The Countdown to Tip-off Show begins at 10:30 a.m.
