The Goshen Men’s basketball team looked to up their win streak to seven on Tuesday night, but the visiting Pilots of Bethel College put a halt to that dream with a 96-76 victory over the Maple Leafs.
Goshen came out strong and led 11-2 in the early minutes before Bethel roared back with an impressive run to take the lead. Goshen’s Stefon Luckey, a senior, and Dominique Cartier, a sophomore, both scored to briefly give the Maple Leafs a lead before Bethel went again on a run and ended up leading at the half 35-26.The second half saw an outburst of offense from both teams, but in the end it was the Pilots and their impressive shooting who secured the win. Bethel outscored Goshen 61-50 in the second half and led by over thirty before the Maple Leafs lessened the gap in the game’s closing minutes. The Maple Leafs were unable to contain Bethel’s Matt Schauss, a senior, who recorded 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Pilots.
Despite forcing 12 turnovers and only losing the ball eight times themselves, Goshen was unable to capitalize on the Pilots’ mistakes and was dominated on the glass by Bethel, 41-22. Bethel also recorded 17 assists to Goshen’s 13.
The Maple Leafs were led offensively by Dominique Bolden, a junior, who recorded 20 points and seven rebounds in the losing effort. Luckey contributed 11 points and three assists, while first-years Christian Grider and Connor Funkhouser provided offense off the bench. Funkhouser chipped in eight points while Grider scored 14, which included going a perfect 4-4 from three-point range. Trevor Commissaris, a junior, had three points to go along with three rebounds and three blocks.
The Maple Leafs saw their conference record get squared at 1-1 with the loss, and they will travel to Grace on Saturday with the intention of improving both their overall record (7-3) as well as their conference record.
