By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The Missouri Western men's basketball team got off to a pretty smooth 28-15 start in the first 10 minutes against NAIA opponent Bethel on Saturday.
Only to trail 35-34 at halftime. A bit later, Bethel went up 51-41.
After a Will Martin timeout, the Griffons righted the ship, went on a 9-0 run and eventually retook the lead, 54-53, with 7:13 to play.
Missouri Western (5-0) never looked back after that, defeating the Bethel Threshers 72-60 on Saturday at the MWSU Fieldhouse in St. Joseph.
The Griffons got off to a great start, but Bethel (3-4) ended the first half on a 17-4 run, taking the halftime lead on a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Nick Bonner.
The woes didn't stop there, as Bethel outscored MWSU 16-7 to start the second half.
But, the Griffons eventually woke up, as they outscored Bethel in the second half 38-25 and held the Threshers to just 9-of-34 shooting over the last 20 minutes.
JaRon Thames led Missouri Western in scoring with 15 points. He also had six assists, five rebounds and two blocked shots.
Taye Fields tallied a double-double with 14 points and a career-high 19 rebounds. Zion Swader scored 11 points to go with four steals. Julius Dixon had 10 points, including two made threes.
Missouri Western was a perfect 17-for-17 at the free throw line, and shot 42.1% from the field (24-57), including 7-of-24 from three. The Griffons also outrebounded Bethel 45-36.
Harper Jonas led Bethel with a game-high 17 points. Nick Bonner was close behind with 16.
Missouri Western, who is undefeated going into conference play for the first time since 2005, open the MIAA slate at home on Thursday against Pittsburg State.
That doubleheader starts with the women's game at 5:30 and the men at 7:30. Both games will be on KFEQ Radio (680, 95.3).
Taye Fields, Will Martin postgame
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.