SWEDES’ RALLY FALLS SHORT; FALL TO BULLDOGS 71-68

McPherson, Kan. - The Bethany College Swedes Men's Basketball team took a short trip down Highway 9 to McPherson, Kansas to face off against the McPherson College Bulldogs to open the new year.

Bethany would start off the game with a Justin Brookens steal leading to a Solomon Clayton dunk on the other end. The Swedes would open up with 8 consecutive points scored until the Bulldogs finally got on the board with a mid-range jumper. Dylan Smith would drain a jumpshot, but the Bulldogs would follow up with a 21-0 run to go up by double-digits with just under 10 minutes left in the first half.

Bethany would go on a 12-0 run of its own over the next 3 minutes of play to cut the McPherson lead to 23-22. McPherson would answer back with a 6-0 run before Bethany would close out the first half outscoring the Bulldogs 8-6 to reach a halftime score of 35-30 in favor of McPherson.

To open the second half, the Bulldogs would outscore the Swedes 14-6 to take their largest lead of the night at 13 points with 14 minutes remaining. Over the next 3 minutes, Justin Brookens would score 8 points along with 2 points each from Dylan Smith and Solomon Clayton to cut the Bulldog lead to 3, but McPherson would rebuild a double-digit lead with just over 8 minutes left to play. Bethany would outscore McPherson 11-3 with 1:27 left to play, but the Bulldogs would hit 4 critical free throws to close out the game and take the win 71-68.

Justin Brookens would explode for 26 points with 19 coming in the second half. Brookens would go 6 for 10 from behind the arc while tallying 5 steals.

Dylan Smith would drop 16 points and tie for a team-high in assists (3) with Malcolm Clayton.

Solomon Clayton had a monster game with 14 points to go along with 17 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 steals. This was Clayton's second double-double of the season and third time grabbing over 10 rebounds.

Bethany won the turnover battle forcing 16 turnovers while only committing 5. Those 16 turnovers led to 20 points for the Swedes compared to just 7 for the Bulldogs. Bethany also dominated in fastbreak points scoring 17 compared to just 2 for McPherson

Up Next…

The Swedes will have the weekend off for their bye, but return to action on January 11^th, 2023 when Bethany takes I-135 down to North Newton, Kansas to face on the Bethel College Threshers in their lone matchup of the season. Tipoff is set for 8pm.

~#RockarStockar~