SWEDES ROLL PAST SPIRES

LINDSBORG, KAN. - The win against St. Mary University was Bethany's fifth win in its current win streak, improving the Swedes to 14-9 overall and 10-7 and fifth place in the KCAC.

The Spires hung around for the first ten minutes trailing 18-14 before the Swedes took off and left St. Mary in the dust. Bethany closed the last ten minutes of the first half on a 30-7 run to open the flood gates against St. Mary. The scoreboard showed 48-21 at the end of the first half. 

Any doubt at the start of the second half was taken care of by senior forward, Solomon Clayton. Clayton started off the half by scoring four and ending with 18 by the end of it. The Swedes gained the momentum and ran with it, building a secure lead against the Spires. This allowed all thirteen men who dressed to see the court and of those men, eleven produced offensively. The final tally was 88-62. 

Coach O'Dowd spoke on the teams focus for the night, " We came out here with a purpose, to build on the last couple of wins," he continued on saying "We didn't want to get comfortable - when you get comfortable, bad habits creep in, you let things start sliding so that was our focus tonight."

Donovan Newton came off the bench to lead the Swedes offense, scoring 20 on the night. Solomon Clayton scored 18 on the night with 8 rebounds and 3 monster dunks. Also producing defensively, Clayton blocked 5 shots, had 3 steals and helped keep the Spires shooting percentage at 36 percent. Dylan Smith worked up 17 points, making 3 out 4 attempted three pointers. Smith also had 3 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.

Statistically, the Swedes had a 46-32 advantage on the glass and a 12-16 margin in turnovers forced. Twelve times Bethany came up with steals and came up with 54 points in the paint.

Up next…

Next up for Bethany will be a trip to Sterling on Wednesday night with the Warriors trailing the Swedes by just a half game in the standings. Tip off is scheduled for 8:00PM.

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