The Bethel men’s basketball team had an overwhelming night Tuesday night as they traveled to Huntington to take on the Forresters. Not only was Huntington able to handle the Pilots by a decisive score of 90-76, but the team experienced yet another devastating injury. Senior Joe Welch had to leave the game early in the second half for what turned out to be a season ending injury. This is a significant loss for the Pilots as three other starters have been playing the last several games under an extreme amount of pain. As a result, Bethel was forced to dig even deeper into their lineup. As a result of Welch having to leave the game early and some deep scoring, the Forresters claimed a quick ten point lead. From there, they kept pushing on and never looked back. Although Huntington gave the Pilots very little opportunities to climb back into the game, Bethel was unable to come up with any scoring runs. In addition, Bethel was also forced to put five freshmen out on the court at the same time. Despite playing on a stress fracture, Caleb Laideg continued to show the team that he is not short on heart as he led the team in scoring with 19 points and nine assists. Ryan Benner, who was also playing through pain, put up 11 points and pulled down five rebounds. Patrick Oetting stepped up in a big way for the Pilots as he came up with 11 points off the bench. Bethel will continue to look to guys like Oetting the rest of the way to come up with big games in order to increase their depth. Although the Huntington loss does sting for the Pilots, they will return to action Saturday when they take on Marian. The Pilots have two more games until the MCC tournament, where they Pilots will no doubt be upset hungry. For now, it will be important that they recover and prepare themselves for the next MCC battle. The game for Saturday will be played at home and tip-off is set for 3:00 p.m.
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The Bethel men’s basketball team had an overwhelming night Tuesday night as they traveled to Huntington to take on the Forresters. Not only was Huntington able to handle the Pilots by a decisive score of 90-76, but the team experienced yet another devastating injury. Senior Joe Welch had to leave the game early in the second half for what turned out to be a season ending injury. This is a significant loss for the Pilots as three other starters have been playing the last several games under an extreme amount of pain. As a result, Bethel was forced to dig even deeper into their lineup. As a result of Welch having to leave the game early and some deep scoring, the Forresters claimed a quick ten point lead. From there, they kept pushing on and never looked back. Although Huntington gave the Pilots very little opportunities to climb back into the game, Bethel was unable to come up with any scoring runs. In addition, Bethel was also forced to put five freshmen out on the court at the same time. Despite playing on a stress fracture, Caleb Laideg continued to show the team that he is not short on heart as he led the team in scoring with 19 points and nine assists. Ryan Benner, who was also playing through pain, put up 11 points and pulled down five rebounds. Patrick Oetting stepped up in a big way for the Pilots as he came up with 11 points off the bench. Bethel will continue to look to guys like Oetting the rest of the way to come up with big games in order to increase their depth. Although the Huntington loss does sting for the Pilots, they will return to action Saturday when they take on Marian. The Pilots have two more games until the MCC tournament, where they Pilots will no doubt be upset hungry. For now, it will be important that they recover and prepare themselves for the next MCC battle. The game for Saturday will be played at home and tip-off is set for 3:00 p.m.
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