Wildcats Tip Off Season with Annual Chick-fil-A Classic
MCKENZIE, Tenn. – After two exhibitions, the Bethel Wildcats tip-off their season officially Friday in the Annual Chick-fil-A Classic Friday and Saturday in Crisp Arena.
The Cats face Campbellsville-Harrodsburg Friday at 8 p.m. Prior to that match-up, Blue Mountain will meet Oakland City at 6 p.m.
The schedule is reversed as Bethel will take on Oakland City at 4 p.m. Saturday. Blue Mountain and Campbellsville will play at 2 p.m.
Blue Mountain is 2-0 on the season. Jermael Bingham is in his 4th year with the Toppers.
Oakland City is 0-1 on the year. Ken French is in his 1st season with the Mighty Oaks.
The Pioneers of CUH are 1-2 on the season. Austin Sparrow is in his 3rd season with CUH.
This season's Wildcat team will feature 10 returners from a team that averaged 87 ppg last season. The Wildcats have signed six new players with five transfers and one freshman. The returners faced a very difficult road last year with the pandemic and new conference and that hopefully will be a motivator for these guys to get back to the winning culture that Bethel has had over the past 20 seasons. It will not be an easy road with the reigning National Champion being a part of the Mid-South Athletic Conference.
The Wildcats returning cast will have five of the six seniors on the roster: Jarred Walker 5'9 (11.2pts/4.0ast), Jamarius Mayberry 6'4 (11.8pts/4.8rebs), Drew Thomas 6'2 (8.3ppg/3.0apg), Terrell Brown 6'4 (1.5pt/1.8rpg), Kamron Rose 6'8 (13.6pts/6.4rebs). The underclassmen returnees are Jon Brown 6'4 Junior (12.7ppg/4.2rpg), Isaac Rankhorn 6'5 Freshman (3.7pts/2.3rebs), Jose Nazario 6'2 Freshman, (1.5pts/1.4rebs), Tyler Neely 6'2 Freshman, (3.8ppg/1.6apg), and Yassine Zlitni 6'6 Freshman (2.1ppg/1.1rpg)
The 2021-2022 non-conference schedule will again be tough as the Wildcats will have eight games against some talented teams. The Wildcats will host the Chick Fil A Classic (BMC, Campbellsville University Harrodsburg, and Oakland City University), Williams Baptist University, and Crowley's Ridge College at home. Bethel will play a classic at Blue Mountain College (Mississippi University for Women and Southeastern Baptist College), Oakland City University and Crowley's Ridge on the road. Coach Jeff Britt states that "I'm really excited to see the team we have put together get on the floor in the Fall. I think that we have signed a good group of players who will force our returners to work hard to get a starting spot. We should have a very competitive team and look forward to year two in the Mid-South Conference."
Coach Britt is in his 22nd year with the Wildcats. He has 481 career wins.
Official Game Notes:
https://www.bethelathletics.com/sports/mbkb/Men-s_Basketball_Game_Notes
Live video:
https://www.bethelathletics.com/WildcatStreaming
Live stats: Visit the men's basketball schedule page:
Bethel vs. CUH
https://www.bethelathletics.com/Boxscore_-_Tourney/20211112_1zss.xml
BMC VS. OCU
https://bethelathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2021-22/Tourney_Boxscore/20211112_o6lk.xml