Bethel men dominate Bethany in KCAC home opener
With six Threshers in double digits, they beat the Swedes by 23.
On Saturday, the Bethel men’s basketball team took on Bethany to open the KCAC home season. The Threshers dominated, winning 82-59 to start off 1-1 in conference play.
Harper Jonas yet again heated up from three as he started the scoring train for Bethel with one and finished with a game-high of four threes made out of five taken. This was a trend for the Threshers as a whole in the first half of play as they shot over 53% from three-point range, making seven of 13, even some from Jalyn Todd.
Bethel held the Swedes to just 27 points in the second half and ended up outscoring them by 18 in the final half.
The Threshers shot 52% from the field, 48% from the arc and 76% from the charity stripe in the contest compared to Bethany’s 35% from the field, 20% from three, and 65% from free-throw range, thanks to the Bethel defense.
36 of the Threshers’ points came from inside the paint.
Bethel was out-rebounded in the contest 35-34, as it brought down just five offensive boards. The Threshers won in the steal battle with 12 compared to nine for the Swedes.
Six Threshers finished in double-digit scoring having Todd with 15, Carmelo Yakubu with 14, Jonas adding 13, Keyaun Hoskin and Nick Bonner with 11 each respectively, and Eli Wiseman coming off the bench firing with 10 points.
“Any time we can get multiple guys scoring it means we are playing good offense,” head coach Jayson Artaz said. “The way this team will be at its best will be when we have five or six guys in double digits.
“We should be a really balanced team that moves the ball. Seeing us do that with so many guys chipping in on the scoring was awesome and I am hoping we can ride that momentum.”
Todd shot a perfect three of three from the three-point range, not something you see often from him. He also led Bethel in blocks with two.
Hoskin finished with 11 assists and eight rebounds, just two shy from a triple-double. Jared Richardson added four more steals to his defensive stat line, now up to 13 on the season thus far.
The Threshers will be back in action on Saturday as they take a trip to St. Joseph, Mo. to take on Northwest Missouri State in an exhibition contest.
Tip-off is slated for 3:30 p.m.