NORTH NEWTON, Kan. – On Wednesday evening in North Newton, the No. 20-ranked Southwestern College men's basketball team had a difficult time scoring points after the first 13 minutes of their battle against Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) foe, Bethel College. A 13-0 run during the last seven minutes of the first half by Bethel, followed by a dominant second half over Southwestern, saddled the Builders with their sixth conference loss of the campaign, 79-71.

"I am proud of our team's effort tonight," said head coach Matt O'Brien. "Bethel is a good team who played well, and we knew we would have to play extremely well in a tough environment to win."

The opening half began to look as if the Moundbuilders might pull away, as they jumped out to a massive 32-21 lead with 7:19 to go in the opening half. Then, Bethel exploded for a 13-0 run over the next 4:30 to give them a 34-32 lead with just over two minutes left in the stanza. Southwestern would take a momentary lead at 36-34 with 28 seconds left, but a three-point shot at the horn put Bethel up 37-36 at the break. After starting hot, Southwestern hit on just 15-of-36 shots from the field in the half, and the Threshers countered with a 15-of-31 showing.

The second half was completely different, as the Moundbuilders never got anything going on the offensive end. They limped to a pedestrian 9-of-28 showing in the second set of 20 minutes, while allowing an 11-of-24 clip by the home squad. Tons of free throws were shot in the second half, after a very minimal amount in the first. Southwestern converted on 14-of-19 from the line in the second half, and Bethel hit 18-of-24 to give them the advantage. The SC offense was just 9-of-26 from beyond the arc, which hurt them considerably, as Bethel was a much more efficient 6-of-13 from deep.

Cevin Clark went 7-of-16 from the field and scored 24 points in the defeat, as he also was better than 50% from long range with a 4-of-7 night in that category. He also went a perfect 6-of-6 from the stripe. Andrew O'Brien scored a total of 16 points, but did so on 14 shots taken. He made just six of those attempts and went 2-of-7 from downtown. Deng Bol's 10 points were the only remaining double-digit total for the roster in the battle, as he struggled to a 3-of-12 line.

O'Brien had six assists in the loss, as he led the team in that category. Trey White contributed three dimes in the bout, while both Clark and Cooper Pierce added two. Bol and Trey Abasolo were responsible for the final two setups by the Moundbuilders.

A 13-rebound performance by O'Brien was not enough to earn SC the win, as he led his squad by a substantial margin. The next highest total for a Builder was five rebounds by Zach Hidalgo. Then, four boards from both Pierce and Jarvis Jennings came next, and both Abasolo and Phillip Smith contributed a pair of backboards. Clark, Bol and White finished off the rebounding duties with one each.

Bol's two steals led the team in the bout, as the remaining burglaries were committed by O'Brien, Pierce and Smith. Bol and Hidalgo were both able to reject a single Thresher shot in the battle, as well.

"We must stay strong and finish the season strong on Saturday against Friends," O'Brien declared.

The Moundbuilders (21-6, 15-6 KCAC) face one more test to finish the regular-season slate, as a rivalry battel against the Friends University Falcons in Wichita will be much more difficult than it looks on paper. With a victory and a Bethel loss to McPherson, Southwestern would clinch the No. 3 seed for the KCAC Tournament, which starts on Wednesday, Feb. 22. The Builder have clinched a home playoff game in the first round as either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed, depending on results on Saturday.

--buildersports.com--