Pat Sullivan

The Bison of Bethany College picked up their seventh victory of the season with a 71-64 win over the Denison University men's basketball team on Monday evening at the Hummel Field House in Bethany, W.Va.

After Bethany broke the scoreless tie with a three-pointer by Carey Palermo, the Big Red rattled off six straight points to take a three-point lead with 17:18 left in the opening frame. Sophomore Larry Farmer (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township) scored four of DU's first six tallies while senior Jeremy Stuhlfauth (Columbus, Ohio/Whetstone) scored the other basket during the run.

However, the Bison answered with a 14-5 run that gave Bethany a 17-11 advantage. The spurt was highlighted by six points from Petre Petkovski and Joe Testa. Up 19-16 half way through the first, the Bison offense exploded for 12 unanswered tallies to build up a 15-point lead. Denison entered the break down 39-30 after outscoring their opponents 14-8 in the final six minutes of the period.

Bethany opened the second half with a jumper by Dakota Matz to widing the gap to 11 points, but a six-point run by the Big Red trimmed the margin to five (41-36) less then three minutes into the frame.

After the Bison rebuilt another double-digit lead at 59-47 with 8:12 left in regulation, Denison roared back again with another 13-6 run. Junior Chris Luther (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood) led the charge with six points to help cut the deficit to 65-60. Unfortunately that was as close as DU would get as the Bison held on to their lead and secured the victory.

Luther finished the contest with 14 points to pace the Denison offense while senior Pat Sullivan (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) and freshman Mike Garabedian (La Grange, Ill./Nazareth Academy) each chipped in 12 tallies. Farmer paced the Big Red on the glass with a game-high nine rebounds.

For Bethany, Lance Beckwith notched 18 tallies while Testa added 14 and Petkovski contributed 13 points. Testa and Petkovski each pulled down eight boards.

The loss drops Denison to 3-8 on the season while the Bison improve to 7-5. DU hits the floor next when they host Ohio Wesleyan University on Wednesday in North Coast Athletic Conference action. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m.