KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Bethel Wildcats held a 65-58 lead with six minutes left versus No. 1 seed and No. 2 nationally ranked LSU-Alexandria Friday in the 82nd NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship in Kansas City but the Generals outscored the Cats 20-8 in the closing minutes to beat Bethel 78-73.
The number five seeded and No. 18 nationally ranked Wildcats finished their season at 25-9. LSU-A advances to the Saturday quarterfinals at 30-3.
Trailing 39-33 at halftime the Wildcats battled back four minutes into the second half outscoring the Generals 10-3 to grab a 43-42 lead. From that point on it was nip-and-tuck until Bethel surged ahead behind the scoring of Isaac Edmondson, Cayden Edmonson, Chase Nappier, Jared Walker and Noah Chatman. Chatman at one point had three offensive stick backs for Bethel. With the game tied at 67, Walker nailed a three-pointer to give the Cats a 70-67 lead with three minutes left but LSU-A closed out the contest with an 11-3 run. JaMichael Brown gave LSU-A the lead for good with 1:28 left in the game with a pair of free throws. The Generals made 5- of -6 at the line down the stretch to seal the win.
The Cats had a chance to win despite shooting just 30 percent from the floor. They were 22-of-72 from the field. Bethel hit just five of 24 three point attempts. Bethel hit 24-of-34 free throw attempts and committed just 10 turnovers in the game.
LSU-A shot 45 percent from the field at 23-of-51. They were 8-of-22 in three point attempts and 24-of-31 from the foul line. The Generals committed 20 turnovers which led to 20 points for the Wildcats.
Two factors which proved to hurt Bethel were LSU-A's 46-40 rebound advantage and a 34-12 advantage in points off the bench. It was only the fourth time Bethel was out rebounded in a game this season. Bethel did however have 20 offensive rebounds with Chatman (8) and Edmonson (5) teaming up for 13 of those.
Edmondson finished with a team high 22 points. He finished his career with 1, 942 points which is 7th on the Wildcat all-time scoring list. Chatman had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Nappier completed his outstanding Bethel career with 17 points.
William Claiborne led the Generals with 22 points and 13 rebounds. JaMichael Brown had 19 points.
There were 11 ties and 10 lead changes in the game.
Coach Jeff Britt spoke about how proud he was of his team. "First off I want to say how proud I am of our team and what we were able to accomplish this season .This group is one the most special groups I've ever had ....we just came up a few points short today ...give LSU-A all the credit ...they are extremely talented and have the makeup to win a National Championship. I wish them the best of luck. We will miss our seniors and always remember how they each contributed to this program."
The Division I NAIA Championship appearance was second in the history of the program. Bethel defeated John Brown University 77-57 Wednesday in the opening round.
The 25 win season marks the most wins in a year during the Jeff Britt era with the Wildcats.
