POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. —
William Penn withstood a pair of runs by Bethel to advance to the quarterfinals of the NAIA Division II National Championships Friday.
The Pilots got to within a point twice in the game, but the top-ranked Statesmen went on a pair of lengthy scoring runs to score a 101-84 win.
The 32-1 Statesmen faces Midland Saturday at 1:45 p.m. in the quarterfinal.
Bethel (24-10) got to 65-64 with 10:30 remaining in the game before William Penn put the game out of reach by scoring the next 17 points and the Pilots never recovered.
After a William Penn timeout, Blake Walker had an inside basket for the Statesmen then he added another field goal for a 69-64 advantage with 9:32 left. James Devlin hit three free throws and Taylor Stoutner hit a 3-pointer for an 11-point cushion. Devlin added a basket, Walker recorded a basket and Keith Steffeck, who finished with a game-high 26 points, capped off the run with a 3-pointer and an 82-64 lead.
The closest Bethel got was 14 at 98-84 with 38 seconds left, but it was too little, too late for it to overcome the deficit.
The Pilots made it a 28-25 game with 9:38 to go in the first half after watching the Statesmen take a 9-point advantage twice midway in the half.
William Penn again regained control of the game by tallying 16 unanswered points over the next 5 minutes to lead 45-25 with 4:40 left in the first half.
Steffeck added 13 rebounds and three blocks for William Penn as Devlin tallied 23 points and seven assists as Stoutner had 21. Brandon Beasley, ho had 23 points and 14 rebounds in the first-round win over McPherson on Wednesday, was limited to just eight points because of foul trouble. He would later foul out as would Walker, who also had eight points.
Arman Rasul had eight points while Kevin Fay contributed seven points.
The Statesmen had a 45-36 advantage in rebounds as Beasley grabbed nine boards and Walker had a hold of six rebounds.
William Penn shot 44.4 percent from the field and connected on 15 of 41 shots from 3-point range.
Sports
March 8, 2013
No. 1-ranked Statesmen clip Pilots to move on to NAIA quarterfinal
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