MCKENZIE, Tenn. – The Bethel Wildcats bounced back after a tough home loss to Stillman Thursday with a 94-78 win over visiting Mobile Saturday afternoon in Crisp Arena. The Wildcats moved to 10-5 overall and 2-2 in the SSAC. Mobile fell to 5-7 and 1-3. The victory snapped a two game losing streak to the Rams.
Bethel jumped out to a 10-2 lead only to see the Rams bounce back to lead 25-19 with 8:30 left in the half. Bethel outscored Mobile 24-9 to close out the half and led 43-34 at the break. The Wildcats would lead the entire second half and led 62-43 with 13:50 left. The Rams made a game of it cutting the Cats lead to 68-61 before Bethel responded to pull away for the 16 point win.
Bethel shot 51 percent from the field hitting 33-of-64 shots. The Rams were 28-of-70 at 40 percent. Bethel hit six three's while the Rams hit nine treys on the night. Bethel was 22-of-33 at the foul line. Mobile was 13-of-16 from the charity stripe. Bethel out rebounded the Rams 43-33. The Cats had 22 assists, led by Jarred Walker with 10. Walker has 87 dimes on the season and is seventh in the nation in that category. Charles Cobb had five assists.
Cayden Edmonson led Bethel with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Cameron Ricks finished with 16 points. Walker had 14 points. Cobb and Javonte Ellis each had 13 tallies. Ellis also grabbed 10 rebounds. Jacob Rose contributed with 10 points. Noah Chatman finished with eight points and six boards. Tim Collins led Mobile with 21 points.
Coach Jeff Britt said, "Our young men played hard and did a better job of keeping their focus on our game plan. Mobile is well coached and a very tough conference team that is getting better each game. I am happy with this bounce back win." Britt added, "We have two tough road games this week at Martin Methodist and Dalton State so it is imperative we maintain our focus in practice the next few days."
The Wildcats return to action Thursday at Martin Methodist with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Catch the action on WEIO, 100.9 and www.thefarmradio.com. The Countdown to Tip-off Show begins immediately following the women's game.
