"We just had a mid-season camp," said head coach Clair Oleen. "We did two-a-days in Colorado. We brought our players out there and met up with our Colorado players, so we were able to stay in homes with them, which is how we can afford to do that and kind of have a mid-season camp and focus on ourselves. We got a lot done this last week after being out there close to a week, practicing and then playing Johnson and Wales University. So from that perspective, it was a good week."

Bethany took on Johnson and Wales Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats came out firing in the first half as the Swedes struggled to keep up. Bethany entered halftime down by ten, but hit their stride in the second half. Outscoring JWU by nine in the second half, the Swedes squeaked out a 79-78 victory.

"It was a quality win on the road, no question about that," Oleen said. "JWU was in the national tournament last year. When we were practicing, we watched them beat Northwestern Iowa earlier in the weak, which is usually a pretty good team. That is who we lost the national championship to a few years back. Johnson and Wales beat us at home earlier this year with two or three starters out, and they had them all back Saturday at their place, so we were able to get a good win on the road."

Senior Rodd Williams scored a game-high 26 points, followed by senior C.J. Littlejohn with 20. Senior Jason Schneider added 12 points as junior Vincent Ferguson tacked on 11. Ferguson grabbed six rebounds while Schneider had four. Littlejohn tallied five assists on the night. Sophomore Clayton Goggins snuck three steals while Ferguson, Littlejohn, and senior Brandon Miller all tacked on two steals.

The Swedes are now 4-9 overall and 1-3 in the KCAC, putting them in seventh place. Bethany hosts Haskell Indian Nation University Monday night and next faces Ottawa University at home on Thursday, January 7 at 8 p.m. The squad will round out the week by traveling to Tabor College on Saturday, January 9 at 7 p.m.

"Johnson and Wales is a good team," said Oleen. "The Colorado School of Mines, an NCAA Division II school, just beat them by two. It was a quality win for us and a good way to get started after the break. Hopefully it is a reflection of some things we accomplished and improved on. We didn't have much legs after our two-a-days, so to get a win at the start of the new year, it was a good win for us."