Bob Davidson
The Salina Journal

LINDSBORG -- Bethany coach Clair Oleen wasn't happy with his team's defensive work during a three-game losing streak that had sunk the Swedes into a four-way tie for fifth place in the Kansas Conference standings.

Last week, Oleen stressed the importance of playing well defensively, especially after a second-half meltdown Wednesday against McPherson.

Oleen got what he want Saturday night against Kansas Wesleyan -- and a whole lot more.

Bethany limited the Coyotes to 35 percent shooting, forced 22 KWU turnovers that led to 28 points and won the rebounding battle by 10 en route to a 98-67 Kansas Conference rout at Hahn Gymnasium.

The Swedes' stellar work on the defensive end paid monstrous dividends on the offensive end, especially the first half when Bethany shot 60 percent, including a sizzling 9 of 14 from 3-point range, and rolled to a 54-33 halftime lead.

Things only got better in the second half as the Swedes (7-11 overall, 5-5 KCAC) pulled away and led by as many as 34 points (89-55).

"I think we defended real well," said senior forward Haydon Parks, who had 13 points and seven rebounds. "We worked on switches to keep penetration out this week, and we executed real well."

Parks said he and his teammates entered the game with a sense of urgency.

"Starting the conference (schedule) over we have to get on a roll and win out so we get a good seed in the conference tournament," he said.

Bethany used a 10-0 run in the first half to pull away from a 16-14 lead and closed the half with surges of 9-2 and 8-1. The Swedes were 21 of 35 from the field the first 20 minutes.

"We'd been working on (shooting) and had been gym-rattin' it a lot," Parks said. "It was just good to see them falling. Once one starts, it seems to go all together."

Oleen said stopping penetration was the key factor.

"The last three games we've let teams break us down from the top, and that's the worst place you can let a team break you down because you don't have help-side defense," he said. "We did a lot of drilling, especially the last couple of days, to make sure we keep people in front of us."

The offensive surge fed off of the defense effort, Oleen said. Bethany had 28 points off of KWU's turnovers.

"I believe if you feed off of defense and you defend well, then offensive execution is going to happen," he said. "Then good shots are going to happen, and you're going to make them."

Bethany cooled off in the second half and shot 48 percent for the game (37 of 77), but it was more than enough to keep KWU at bay. The Coyotes were 22 of 62 from the field and missed nine free throws.

Trey Beachum led Bethany with 15 points. Clayton Goggins added 12 and Chris Dean 10.

"We wanted to keep the ball out of the post, and we did a nice job of that, but they did a good job finding their shooters," KWU coach Chris Fear said. "I give them all kinds of credit, they really executed well.

"The problem at our end of it is those shots were just really open, we didn't contest them. We didn't seem to understand our rotations, which is frustrating because we've been doing this for quite some time and having some success with it. We just couldn't seem to find them."

Freshman Scott Weber led Wesleyan (2-19, 0-10) with 12 points. Dane Brinker had 11, and Brock Borovetz and Jason Carter 10 apiece.

"(Bethany) played like team that had to have (a victory)," Fear said. "They've got a bunch of seniors, and this is their last run at it and you could kind of sense that from them. Unfortunately, we were maybe intimidated a little bit. I'm not sure. We didn't seem to handle things as well as we have in recent games."