Mishawaka, Ind. --- The Bethel Pilots returned to their winning ways with a 93-70 victory over the Governor's State Jaguars (3-10) Monday night, improving their record to 9-3 on the season.
Drew Lutz led the way again for the Pilots as he scored in double-digits for the fifth game in a row, putting up a whopping 28 points. Lutz is ranked ninth in the NAIA in scoring, eighth in assists, and 19th in assist/turnover ratio after another outstanding performance.
Junior
Nathan Aerts climbed the leaderboard in points after scoring 10, passing Adrick Hills with 1,235 career points, making him 48th in Pilot history. Aerts also grabbed five rebounds, surpassing David Haverstick in total rebounds with 582, making Aerts the 34th leading rebounder in program history.
Freshman,
Alonas Peciulis, added to the star-studded night with a double-double by scoring a season-high 18 points going 7-for-8 from the floor, and grabbed 12 rebounds.
A layup from
Deacon Heath put the Pilots up to a 20-point lead midway through the first half, but costly turnovers would hurt the Pilots, allowing the Jaguars to chip the lead down to eight points at the break, as Bethel went into the locker room leading 44-36.
The score remained tight in the second half until a jumper from freshman
Chikara Tanaka put the Pilots up 73-61. The Pilots would not be tested the rest of the way as the lead swelled back to 20 with 2:55 left in regulation.
Head Coach
Steve Drabyn now sports a 4-0 record against the CCAC this season and a career record of 14-2 against the CCAC, including 4-0 against Governor's State.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- Five Pilots scored in double-digits including Drew Lutz (28), Alonas Peciulis (18), Chikara Tanaka (12), Tanguy Touze (12) and Nathan Aerts (10).
- The bench went off for Bethel with 36 points and 48 of the 93 points were scored in the paint.
- Bethel dominated the boards 54-27, Alonas Peciulus led the team with 12 to complete a double-double.
NEXT TIME OUT
Bethel starts a two-game road trip to Lakeland, Florida as Southeastern University hosts the Pilots and NAIA 11
th ranked Florida College. The Pilots will face off with the Southeastern Fire on Friday, Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m and will conclude the trip with Florida College on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 5:30 p.m.
For the latest information on each of Bethel University's 31 intercollegiate athletic teams, visit BUPilots.com or follow the Pilots on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @BUPilots or YouTube at /BethelSportsNetwork.
