By Elizabeth Luke
The Bethel Pilots barely escaped with a 68-65 victory over the Trojans in the Crossroads League Championship game Tuesday night.
Senior Casey Coons led the team with 28 points, followed by junior Ben Raichel with 14 points and senior Tommy Peller with 13 points. Coons made eight of 19 3-pointers to break the record for the most career 3-pointers in Taylor's history, while also holding the record for most made threes in a season.
The Trojans knew they were a close matchup with the Pilots, as they split their previous season conference games, and their season records are strikingly similar with the Trojans at 21-11 and the Pilots 23-9.
"We both knew each other fairly well going into the game," Coons said, "so we just wanted to execute our stuff offensively and try to take away their tendencies on the defensive end."
The Pilots played tight defense on senior Nate Kasper, holding him to only eight points. He still brought down the team-high nine rebounds, and junior Josh Riikonen was close behind at eight rebounds. The Pilots dominated the glass, as they gained 44 rebounds to Taylor's 29.
With 2:45 left in the first half, the Trojans maintained control of the court with a 29-22 lead over the Pilots, but within the last two minutes, Bethel went on a run to take a 32-31 lead at halftime.
Peller started the second half with a clutch 3-pointer to take the lead to 34-32, but the Pilots answered yet again.
Raichel's 3-pointer at 11:45 put the score at a tight 45-42, with Bethel in the lead. The Pilots controlled the last 10 minutes as Taylor struggled to hang in the game.
Taylor surged back into the game as Peller drained his three free throws, bringing the Trojans back to within six points. Coons scored an impressive eight points in the last minute and a half, but the Trojans fell short of a victory as Bethel claimed the championship by three points.
"Their team depth really hurt us, but, as far as I'm concerned, it was simply two even teams fighting to the end out there," said head coach Paul Patterson.
The Trojans were hoping for an at-large bid to carry them to nationals, but they just missed the cut, bringing their well-fought season to a close.
Coons and Peller earned seats on the second and third All-Conference teams this season, respectively. Coons was also named Conference Player of the Week for his outstanding play in the tournament games and 21 points-per-game average.
"I'm thankful for all the people that have supported me throughout my career," Coons said. "I love each and every one of my guys, and it has been a great experience for me in my basketball career here at Taylor. It has been an honor to be a part of this program over the last four years, and we went out swinging."
As the Trojans' season comes to a close, the five seniors (Coons, Nathan Burdette, Jake Hoffman, Kasper, and Peller) have much to be proud of. They entered the program with an 11-win record, which has amazingly transformed to a winning 21-win record this year.
Along with these seniors' many individual and team honors, each one has put in countless, unglorified hours of work in to form a successful program.
"These are some good seniors who have overcome some very difficult challenges," Patterson said. "They have played one of the top 13 toughest schedules in the league to put themselves in the conference championship game this year. These are great guys that represented the Lord in a way that Taylor University should be very proud of."
