Bethel 1/5/11

Got back to our first home game of the new year vs. the Bethel Royals. Somewhat creative nickname but I'm going off on their colors. They are probably the only school (college or high school) that are the Royals and colors are you guessed it...navy blue? That's right, navy blue. Makes no sense at all. On another note, if Bethel ever offered me a job, I would turn it down immediately. I don't like what they stand for and I think they are very hypocritical (at least with the run-ins I've had with their bball staff). Maybe I'm just judging based off a few people but I'll go with it.

Off to the game. We got off to a good start and Bethel had no answer, ever. The game was never much in question. They clearly had no answer for us at any position. It was a nice game to "relax" as a staff as in we didn't have to deal another close game.

In the first half we were led by Mike Campbell's 16 points. They simply couldn't cover him at all. That's always nice to know that they flat out can't match up with someone on your team. Carl also had a big double-double in the first half. We went into the locker room with a 50-31 halftime lead.

To start the second half, Bethel came out firing with a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to twelve. We didn't panic and answered with a 12-0 run of our own and Bethel hit the panic button. It would never get closer as we were able to get some guys some good minutes throughout the half. They looked completely deflated and didn't look like they wanted to be there as our lead hovered around 40 for the last six minutes of the game. Final Score, Pipers - 99 Royals - 65.

We were led by Mike and Carl with 18 points a piece. Carl also finished with 15 boards. Noah rounded out our double figure scorers with 11 on 3-3 shooting from 3. We had seven more guys with anywhere from nine points to six points (Tyler, Levi, Josh, Sam, Brandon, Ainge, and Andy). We were quite balanced. Our record now stands at 5-5 and 3-2 in conference play.

We play at Macalester on Saturday at 3pm. They won their first game of the year last night against a quality St. John's on the road. It was their first league win in over 50 games. It certainly won't be an easy one as they will be sky high after that one.