Cats Face Tigers in Quarterfinals of MSC Tournament

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The No. 6 seeded Bethel Wildcats face No. 3 seeded Georgetown Tigers Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. CT in the quarterfinals of the Mid-South Conference Men's Basketball Tournament. The event is being held in the Studle Financial Arena on the Bowling Green High campus.

Bracket:

https://www.mid-southconference.org/sports/mbkb/2023-24/files/MSC_MBB_Tournament_2024.pdf

Cumberlands (Ky.) and Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) share the MSC regular-season championship with 10-2 conference records. It is one of two ties in the standings.

Freed-Hardeman earns the No. 1 seed and the bye into the conference semifinals based on the fourth tiebreaker of point differential in games played between the two teams this season.

The point differential in the two regular season games is one point -- Freed-Hardeman won 81-73 on Jan. 27 and Cumberlands won 91-84 on Feb. 10.

Campbellsville (Ky.) and Bethel (Tenn.) tied for fifth in the standings with 3-9 conference marks. Like the tie for first, the Campbellsville-Bethel tie also comes down to point differential. Campbellsville is the No. 5 seed with a two-point advantage in the season point total. The Tigers beat Bethel 87-70 in mid-January and the Wildcats won 81-76 in mid-February.

Freed-Hardeman faces the winner of No. 4-seed Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) and Campbellsville in Sunday's first semifinal. The Blue Raiders and the Tigers open the tournament at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday in one of three quarterfinal games.

In the lower half of the MSC bracket, Cumberlands faces No. 7-seed Cumberland (Tenn.) at 5 p.m. CT on Saturday while No. 3-seed Georgetown (Ky.) plays No. 6-seed Bethel at 7:30 p.m. CT.

The semifinals are slated for 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. CT on Sunday with the championship game scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT on Monday, March 4.

The tournament champion earns the Mid-South's automatic bid into the NAIA National Championship.

Cats vs. Tigers

The Cats and Tigers met twice during the regular season.

The No. 16 Georgetown Tigers used a 67-12 advantage in bench points to beat the Bethel Wildcats 93-70 in late January in Crisp Arena.

Bethel trailed 44-30 at halftime.

The Wildcats got to within nine at one point in the second half, but the Tigers pulled away and moved to 16-4 overall and 3-2 in the MSC. Bethel dropped to 12-9 and 1-4 in the league.

Georgetown shot 51 percent from the floor and hit ten three-pointers. The Wildcats shot 35 percent and hit just four three-pointers.

The Tigers outrebounded the Wildcats 38-34.

Bethel was 16-of- 24 from the foul line. GC was 13-of-19.

Connor Guthrie hit four three-pointers and led Bethel with 22 points. Querrion Gadson scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half. The senior also had a team high nine rebounds. Kendan Maddox finished with 14 points. 

Aden Nyekan came off the bench with 22 points to lead Georgetown.  

The Wildcats and the Tigers met for the 15th time February 10.  GC moved to a 12-3 advantage in the series with 78-57 victory in Georgetown.

Bethel dropped their fifth straight and fell to 12-12 and 1-7 in the MSC. GC snapped a two-game losing streak and moved to 18-6 and 5-4. The Tigers are 12-2 at home on the year.

Bethel trailed 40-29 at the half and was outscored 38-28 in the second half.

Cold shooting hurt the Cats as they were just 1-of-9 from behind the arc. Bethel shot 33 percent from the floor overall. Georgetown shot 50 percent from the field and hit five treys.

The Tigers had a 43-39 margin in rebounds.

Jose Nazario led Bethel with 11 points.

Jabrion Spikes led the Tigers with 14 points.

Bethel is 14-14 overall and finished 3-9 in the conference.

Georgetown is 21-6 and finished 8-4 in the league.

Stats:

TBA

Watch:

https://team1sports.com/midsouth/

Tickets:

https://www.mid-southconference.org/hometown-ticketing