OAKLAND CITY, Ind. – The Bethel Wildcats hit the road traveling to Oakland City, Indiana to meet the Mighty Oaks of Oakland City University Wednesday night and used a huge second half to win 100- 88.
The first half saw both teams enjoy scoring streaks as Oakland City used a nine point unanswered run to lead 38-29 with five minutes left in the half but the Wildcats answered with a 12-2 run to lead 41-40 at the break. There were five ties and five lead changes in the first 20 minutes.
The second half saw the Cats pull away behind the scoring of Chandler Clements and Jamarius Mayberry to lead 72-56 with 11 minutes left. Clements had 16 of the 31 points during the run while Mayberry had eight points during the big surge.
Bethel moved to 3-3 while the Oaks fell to 2-4. The Wildcats snapped a two game losing streak and moved to 1-3 on the road on the season.
Clements scored a career high 35 points and also grabbed a team high nine rebounds. Mayberry finished with 12 points. The Wildcats had 30 bench points from Tyler Neely, Myron McKinney and Kamron Rose who all scored 10 each. Nathaniel Schmittler led the Oaks with 16 points.
The Wildcats shot 48 percent (40-82) from the floor. OCC was 37-of-72 at 51 percent. The Wildcats hit 16-of 21 free throw attempts. Bethel had a season high 24 assists. Seven different Wildcats had three or more assists in the win.
Coach Jeff Britt said, "Our young men bounced back in the second half and played better especially on the offensive end. Chandler had a great game and our bench really helped us tonight. We still need to be more focused and committed on the defensive end. We look forward to jumping back into conference play and we know Cumberland will be tough as always."
Bethel returns home Friday to host the Cumberland Phoenix at 1:30 p.m. The MSC battle can be heard on WEIO, 100.9 and at www.thefarmradio.com
Dave McCulley and Zach O'Kelly will have the call with the Countdown to Tip-off Show beginning at 1 p.m.
Live radio: https://www.thefarmradio.com/
Live video: http://www.bethelathletics.com/WildcatVision
Live stats: http://www.dakstats.com/websync/Pages/Webcasts.aspx?association=10
