INDIANAPOLIS - Tested for the first time this season in Crossroads League play, the Marian men's basketball team outlasted Bethel University 78-75 on Wednesday night to continue their undefeated start to the campaign. Marian's second half comeback pushes their overall record on the year to 10-0.
The Knights got off to a rocky start, missing their first four shots from the field Wednesday as Bethel started the game on a 5-0 run. Christian Harvey got his team on the board 153 seconds into play, and a three from Hayden Langkabel and a dunk from Jackson Ames would tie the score, but the offensive rhythm for Marian was lacking. Ames' dunk with 14:05 to play in the half would the only Knight score for nearly five minutes, as they missed six shots and committed four turnovers.
Bethel used the drought to go on a 12-0 run and take a 19-7 lead, but Brody Whitaker stepped up and ended the run with a three-pointer. The Knights continued to chip away at their deficit and made it a two-point game with 4:38 to play in the half as Ames converted a putback, but a Brandon Hunt three answered and kept the score a two-possession game. Bethel would grow their lead to 10 points twice in the final four minutes of the half, taking a 37-32 lead into the locker room as Harvey ended a 5-0 run for Marian with a mid-range jumper.
Despite getting the run to make it a two-score game late in the half, Marian was unable to match Bethel coming out of the break as the Pilots went on a 7-2 run to reclaim their 10-point lead. The Knights slowly whittled away from the Pilots' 47-37 lead, as Langkabel, Harvey, and Taeshon Cherry helped inch within five. A Josh Bryan three in the midst of the offense finding life helped cut the deficit to four, and with 10:51 to go Harvey brought the game back to a tie with a pair of foul shots. A Nolan Foster layup matched a Drew Lutz jumper to keep the game tied, and with momentum continuing to lean toward the Knights, Whitaker gave his team the lead for the first time by splitting a pair of foul shots.
Leading 56-55 with 8:53 to play, Marian's defense kept up the pressure, putting the clamps on the Bethel offense. The Pilots went 5:20 of game play without scoring, as the Knights used their opponent's scoring famine to increase the lead to nine. After doing allowing Marian to grow the lead at the foul line, Bethel ended the run with a Deacon Heath trey, but was unable to keep cutting as Whitaker and Luke Heady drained back to back threes to make it an 11-point game.
The three-point barrage gave Marian a 70-59 lead with 4:25 to play, which would help keep a cushion from Bethel as they whittled back within two possession. The Pilots slowly made it a two-point game with 75 seconds to play with a 12-3 run, but were never able to tie the game. Langkabel made five foul shots in the final minute to keep Marian in the lead, as they held on to their 78-75 victory.
Langkabel scored a game-high 24 points in the win, making nine free throws in the contest to help ice the win. Harvey finished with 16 points and four rebounds, and despite fouling out, Cherry had 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Whitaker led the bench with eight pionts, and in the win Marian held a plus-20 advantage in rebounding.
Marian's road gets tougher on Saturday, as they host the second game of their homestand at 3 p.m. against rival Indiana Wesleyan, looking to snap a four-game losing skid against the Wildcats.
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