Bethany came out hot against Washburn, hitting seven of their first eight shots and jumping to an early 19-10 lead. However, the Ichabods used a 14-2 run to go into halftime with a one-point lead.

Sophomore Clayton Goggins scored a team-high 15 points, followed by seniors C.J. Littlejohn with nine and Jason Schneider with eight. Goggins grabbed six rebounds as Littlejohn added five. Littlejohn totaled three assists on the night while Goggins, senior Rodd Williams, and junior Sol Byrd, Jr. all added two. Goggins and Littlejohn each snuck two steals in the contest.

The Swedes then turned north to compete in the Hastings Classic on Friday and Saturday. The squad went head-to-head with host Hastings College Friday night.

"Hastings is a pretty good team, but we certainly had some deficiencies," said head coach Clair Oleen. "One that stands out glaringly is free throw shooting. We missed more free throws than what we lost by, so we had a lot of missed scoring opportunities. This was the game we actually didn't feel we played particularly well. We didn't shoot well from field and our defensive conversions were very, very poor."

Despite keeping the score close in the first half, Bethany found themselves down by six at the half. Hastings extended their lead to 15 with nine minutes left in the contest. Just two minutes later, the Broncos stormed to a 24-point lead and never looked back as they defeated the Swedes 82-70.

"We had defensive problems in giving up 82 points," Oleen said. "Take away defensive conversion deficiencies and free throw problems, and we walk away with a decent win."

Bethany ended the week with a battle against Doane College Saturday afternoon.

The Swedes found their stride against the Tigers of Doane as the Bethany defense held Doane's shooting to a mere 23 percent from the field. Bethany's offense heated up as they shot 51 percent from the field, securing their 71-51 victory.

"We defended pretty well," said Oleen. "We took a step forward defensively and improved our defensive conversions. We put major emphasis on that, and that defense created a lot of offense. We also saw some things we had been working to improve the triangle offense transfer into the game."

Littlejohn had a game-high 25 points as Schneider tacked on 18 points.

"Our major concern is the number of offensive rebounds we gave up," Oleen said. "That is something we are really trying to address and saw against Washburn and in some other games. Washburn averaged 23 or 24 offensive rebounds, and had 11 on us, but it was certainly a major improvement for us. Against Doane, we took a step back in terms of giving up far too many offensive rebounds and second opportunities and shots on possessions."

The Swedes are now 2-6 overall. They kick off their conference schedule on Thursday, December 3 with a home game against Friends University before heading to Sterling College Saturday, December 5. Tip offs are set for 8 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively.

"There are a lot of good things about what went on," said Oleen. "We feel that certainly we are working to get better and taking steps to get better as we head into conference play."