Jan. 21 – GROVE CITY, Pa. – Thanks to a 20-point second-half scoring effort from senior guard Delonte' Joyce (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis), the Bethany College men's basketball team defeated Grove City College, 79-68 on Wednesday. The victory marked the third-straight for the Bison who are now 9-8 overall on the season.
Neither team opened the game shooting well from the field as the lone basket over the first five and a half minutes was a three-point shot by sophomore Pedro Lalor (Orlando, Fla./Dr. Phillips). Jon Grim would finally get the Wolverines on the board at the 14:35 mark and would give Grove City a one-point lead (4-3) with 14:10 to play. That would prove to be the only time the Bison would trail all day.
Just 30 seconds after Grim's second basket, junior Alan Harper (Cleveland, Ohio/Cleveland Central Catholic) fired in his first three pointer of the game, to give Bethany a two-point lead (6-4) with 13:27 remaining.
Five of the first six made field goals by the Green & White were from deep over the opening 11 minutes of the half. After Harper's three, senior Jeff Joynes (Baltimore, Md./Poly) hit back-to-back triples. Then, following a jumper by Darrian Bruster (Cleveland, Ohio/Cleveland Central Catholic), Joyce got into the mix with a three of his own, extending the Bison advantage to 17-7 with 9:40 to go.
Grove City would cut the Bison lead in half, 23-18, with 5:33 to play. It was then however, that Bethany would extend their lead to the largest of the game. Outscoring the Wolverines 12-4 in the span of three minutes, the Bison extended the gap to 13 points (35-22) with 2:19 left in the opening stanza. In the run, Joyce scored seven of the team's 12 points, including his second three of the half. The Bison would then enter the half with a nine-point lead, 35-26.
Over the first nine minutes of the second half, Grove City would chip away at the Bison lead, eventually getting the Bethany advantage down to four points (48-44) on a layup by Cory Huff with 11:52 to go in regulation.
The Green & White would once again have a response, this time in the form of a 10-0 run, pushing the Bethany lead to 58-44 with 8:20 to go. Joyce started the run with a three, which was followed by a layup from Antonio Rudolph (New Castle, Pa./New Castle). Joynes then scored five-straight points to give the Bison their largest advantage.
The Bethany lead would never again dip below double figures, as the Green & White pushed forward for the 79-68 victory.
In the win, Joyce was again up to his old tricks, as he scored 27 points, which included 20 in the second half of play. It marked the seventh time this season that Joyce has scored at least 20 points in a game, with the Bison holding a 7-0 record in those contests. He shot three-of-six from beyond the three-point line and was a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe.
Joynes also played well on the offensive end of the floor, posting a season high 18 points on 6-of-9 from the floor, including 3-of-6 from behind the arc. Harper also finished in double figures, scoring all 10 of his points in the first half.
The Green & White did a nice job on handling the basketball, committing just eight turnovers in the contest. On the defensive side of the floor, Bethany forced the Wolverines into 20 turnovers, helping to contribute to the 11-point win.
