News Release

BETHANY, W.Va — BISON CLAIM SECOND STRAIGHT PAC TITLE WITH 95-64 WIN

BETHANY, W.Va. – The Bethany College men’s basketball team put an exclamation point on their perfect run through the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) this season with a 95-64 victory over Waynesburg College in the PAC Tournament Championship game Saturday night.

The victory was the Bison’s 18th consecutive, now the second-longest streak in school history, and gives them a record of 23-4 overall. Waynesburg saw their season come to a close with a 16-11 record.

In front of a raucous crowd at Hummel Field House, Bethany started out strong. The Yellow Jackets scored two of the game’s first three hoops, but the Bison answered with 12 straight points to take the lead for good. Senior forward Mike Drahos got his big night off to a nice start by scoring seven during the spurt. Waynesburg scored the next five but senior guard Scott Mezyk sandwiched threes around a Mike Drahos lay-up to give BC a 22-11 advantage and Waynesburg was only within single-digits once for the rest of the game.

Late in the half, Mike Drahos had two more lay-ups during an 8-0 run that gave Bethany an 18-point lead that ended up a 41-26 advantage at halftime. Drahos had 17 points and nine rebounds in the opening period, which saw Bethany shoot 50 percent (15-30), while the Yellow Jackets hit just 10-of-28 attempts (35.7 percent).

Any hopes Waynesburg had for a comeback were dashed early in the second half. The teams exchanged baskets in the first minute and a half of the second stanza before Bethany tore off an 18-4 blitz to push their lead out to 63-34 with 14:53 to play. The run featured four triples by four different Bison, including Mike Drahos, who’s seven points during the stretch included a trifecta and a breakaway dunk that sent the capacity crowd into bedlam.

The rest of the game served as a coronation for the newly-crowned back-to-back champions. By the end of the night, 11 different Bison had hit the scorebook and Bethany finished the game shooting 58.7 percent from the floor. With the win, BC extended their conference record streak to 24 consecutive wins over PAC opponents, dating back to last year.

Leading Bethany’s offensive onslaught was Mike Drahos, who notched 28 points on 12-of-17 shooting, while also grabbing 11 rebounds and handing out six assists. It was the 13th double-double of the year and 39th in the career of the 6-5 forward, who was named First Team All-PAC for the third time in his career earlier this week. His numbers over the last four years now include 1,665 points (fifth all-time) and 871 rebounds (second).

Not to be outdone was Mike’s brother Matt Drahos, this year’s PAC Player of the Year and Jostens Trophy finalist as the Division III Player of the Year. After sitting for a good bit of the first half with two fouls, Matt finished the contest with 20 points and 10 rebounds. It was his 11th double-double of the year and 40th of his career. Already the school’s all-time leading rebounder, Matt now has 923 career boards to go along with his 1,924 career points, second in school history.

Another offensive star on this night was junior Chris Stephens, who tallied 10 points, seven assists, five steals and four rebounds.

Waynesburg had three players finish in double digits, including Ryan Bujnowski with 15, Beau Wilson with 11 and Jeff Linden with 10.

Bethany will now play the waiting game, as they will find out Sunday night if they have earned a second straight bid to the NCAA Tournament. If they do earn the invitation, it would be the first time in school history the program competed in the Big Dance in consecutive years. The NCAA is expected to announce the schools who have made the 59-team field by Sunday night at 10 p.m. First round pairings will not be announced until early Monday morning.

Waynesburg College vs Bethany College
2/25/06 7:30 p.m. at Bethany, WV
At Bethany, WV
BETHANY COLLEGE 95, WAYNESBURG COLLEGE 64
WAYNESBURG COLLEGE (16-11)
Ryan Bujnowski 6-12 3-5 15; Beau Wilson 3-11 4-4 11; Jeff Linden 3-4 3-3 10;
Tim Drakeley 3-9 0-0 8; Jeff Nero 2-11 3-3 7; Marc Lodovico 3-5 0-0 6;
George Wasik 1-1 1-2 3; Dan Happe 1-4 0-0 2; Josh Parisi 0-0 2-2 2; Colby
Grubich 0-1 0-0 0; Kenny Riddell 0-1 0-0 0; Jason Clark 0-0 0-0 0; Jered
Gamble 0-0 0-0 0; John Cunningham 0-2 0-0 0; Andy Erjavek 0-0 0-0 0. Totals
22-61 16-19 64.
BETHANY COLLEGE (23-4)
Mike Drahos 12-17 2-2 28; Matt Drahos 9-15 2-5 20; Chris Stephens 3-8 3-4
10; Scott Mezyk 3-4 0-0 9; Josh Polantz 3-6 0-0 8; Marcus Adams 2-3 2-2 6;
Marc Palermo 2-4 0-0 4; Carey Palermo 1-1 2-2 4; Bill Grant 1-1 0-0 2; Brody
Jackson 0-2 2-2 2; Nate Stoner 1-1 0-0 2; Joe Sprumont 0-0 0-0 0; James
Wallace 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 37-63 13-17 95.
Waynesburg College............   26   38  -   64
Bethany College...............   41   54  -   95
3-point goals-Waynesburg College 4-18 (Tim Drakeley 2-4; Jeff Linden 1-1;
Beau Wilson 1-5; Dan Happe 0-2; Marc Lodovico 0-2; Jeff Nero 0-3; Ryan
Bujnowski 0-1), Bethany College 8-17 (Scott Mezyk 3-3; Mike Drahos 2-3; Josh
Polantz 2-4; Chris Stephens 1-3; Brody Jackson 0-1; Matt Drahos 0-3). Fouled
out--Waynesburg College-None, Bethany College-None. Rebounds-Waynesburg
College 28 (Beau Wilson 5), Bethany College 41 (Mike Drahos 11).
Assists-Waynesburg College 4 (Jered Gamble 1; Ryan Bujnowski 1; Beau Wilson
1; Marc Lodovico 1), Bethany College 20 (Chris Stephens 7). Total
fouls-Waynesburg College 16, Bethany College 16. A-905
PAC Tournament Championship
Bethany wins second consecutive PAC Championship.
Bethany wins 18th consecutive game.