January 24, 2001


The Bluffton College men's basketball team won their fourth straight Heartland Conference game Wednesday night as the Beavers earned a 67-65 win at Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana.

Bluffton jumped out to a 39-31 lead at halftime and kept Anderson at bay in the second half as the Beavers did not trail at any point in the second half. The host Raven squad came back in the final two minutes of the game, however, but a basket by senior Ben Coole (Butler/Clear Fork) with 1:25 gave Bluffton a three point lead, and after an AU basket with 11 seconds left senior Chris Sheldon (Bucyrus/Wynford) hit a free throw with seven ticks on the clock to give Bluffton a two-point win.

Bluffton is now 13-4 overall and 4-2 in the HCAC, while Anderson falls to 8-9 overall and 0-6 in the HCAC.

Junior Rod Overmyer (Payne/Wayne Trace) nailed four 3-pointers, all in the first half, and finished with a game-high 22 points to lead the Beavers. Coole added 17 points and seven rebounds, while Sheldon chipped in 10 points and had a game-high five assists.

Anderson started out the game with a 3-pointer and led 5-4 with 17:38 left in the first half, but it would be their last lead of the night as Bluffton shot 46% from the floor in the first half and saw Overmyer go off on runs of eight straight points midway through the first half and then hit three straight 3-pointers in the final 2:10 before halftime.

BC held Anderson to just 37.1% shooting on their own court and committed just nine turnovers for the entire game.

Bluffton will play at Defiance on Saturday at 3:00.