Pi­lots send out se­niors in fash­ion

The Bethel Col­lege men’s bas­ket­ball team played their last reg­u­lar sea­son home game on Tues­day evening against Tay­lor Uni­ver­sity. The Pi­lots won the game by a score of 70-57 and sent their five se­niors out in fash­ion. The Pi­lots were led in scor­ing by se­niors Tony Ben­ford and Tyler Brown. Ben­ford led the way with 17 points and 12 of those came from three point land. Brown had 16 points and also to­taled five re­bounds. Se­niors Ryne Light­foot and Wes Laidig each added 14 points. The other se­nior, Derek Moser added two points and a re­bound.

The win so­lid­i­fies the Pi­lot’s sec­ond place po­si­tion in the MCC. The Pi­lots trail the In­di­ana Wes­leyan Wild­cats who are in first place with one game re­main­ing. The Pi­lots need the Wild­cats to lose on Sat­ur­day at Tay­lor to go along with a Pi­lot vic­tory at St. Fran­cis. The Pi­lots lost in an ear­lier meet­ing with St. Fran­cis by two points at Bethel. Cur­rently the Pi­lots are ranked 12 in the na­tion while St. Fran­cis is ranked tenth.

The five se­niors on this year’s team are vi­tal to Bethel’s suc­cess. This group of se­niors has made a great im­pact on the pro­gram over their four year ca­reers. Both Brown and Light­foot have started al­most every game since com­ing in as fresh­men. Laidig has been an all pur­pose player for the Pi­lots. He can ei­ther be a “su­per sub” for the Pi­lots or start. Moser does not get a lot of play­ing time, but that does not mean he is not a key part to Bethel. He is a great leader and hard worker that chal­lenges the other guys to be their best. Ben­ford is a se­nior who trans­ferred to Bethel last year. He has been a starter and has added great depth at the guard spot for the Pi­lots.

The se­niors look to leave one last im­pres­sion on Bethel and that is an NAIA Na­tional Cham­pi­onship. They are in a good po­si­tion to clinch a spot back in the na­tional tour­ney. The Pi­lots fin­ish out the reg­u­lar sea­son on Sat­ur­day at St. Fran­cis and then will host a first round MCC tour­na­ment game Wednes­day, Feb. 24 at 7 pm. The Pi­lots are try­ing to win the con­fer­ence tour­ney for the third straight year.