Bethel’s Lightfoot Wins No. 700
MISHAWAKA – Bethel College men’s basketball head coach Mike Lightfoot reached a historic milestone on Tuesday night when his No. 22 Pilots defeated Taylor University 84-70 for their 16th win of the season at the Wiekamp Athletic Center.
The win also marked Lightfoot’s 700th victory of his illustrious career. Lightfoot has won 700 games the way his teams have played year after year–fast. In only 960 chances, Lightfoot joined the ranks of some of the greatest coaches ever to pace the sidelines–Adolph Rupp, Dean Smith, Phog Allen, Henry Iba, Bob Knight–to name a few, making him the 3rd-quickest NAIA coach and 18th-quickest coach in men’s college basketball history to reach 700 career victories.
Lightfoot was modest about his milestone win, saying it was simply a case of being around for a very long time. But when asked why he had stayed at Bethel for his entire career (from 1987 until the present), Lightfoot became nostalgic.
“There are so many former players and coaches over the years who are responsible for this, it’s not just one individual,” Lightfoot remarked. “Because of their effort and dedication to Bethel, it makes for a great accomplishment for our entire program.” He continued, “I think it will mean a lot when it’s all over. Until then, we’re enjoying the process each and every day as a team.”
The Pilots, who improved to 16-5 overall and 5-4 in the Crossroads League, snapped a two-game home losing streak in a rematch of last season’s Crossroads League Tournament championship game.
The game began with Bethel storming out to a quick 9-3 advantage resulting in a quick timeout by first-year Taylor coach Josh Andrews just four minutes in.
The Trojans received their coaches wake-up call going on a 10-2 run that gave TU a 13-11 lead with 14:59 remaining in the first half.
Senior guard Ryan Benner would catch fire late as part of his 10 first half points to give Bethel a 26-23 advantage with just over six minutes to play. Michael Mislan would come off the bench giving BC a huge boost with six points in six minutes of action giving the Pilots a 37-32 lead at intermission.
Early in the second half Taylor closed the gap to just three, but Benner would stay hot and help his squad go on a 13-2 run to increase their lead to 14 points (50-36) in the first five minutes of play.
Taylor (9-11, 3-6) quickly turned things around and after a basket by Josh Riikonen they would cut their deficit to just six (52-46).
The Pilots would ultimately decide the game after a 17-4 run to go up by as many as 19 points (69-50) at the 8:24 mark.
The Trojans would slowly chip away at the lead to come as close as 10 (80-70) with 0:37 seconds remaining, but Bethel would close out the contest scoring the final four points giving them the 84-70 victory.