MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The No. 9 Martin Methodist Men's Basketball team used a second-half offensive explosion to race past Bethel (Tenn.) University in an 87-72 semifinal victory at the SSAC Men's Basketball Championships at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex Friday afternoon.
After dispatching Belhaven (Miss.) University in Thursday's quarterfinal matchup, the RedHawks (27-4) drew a familiar foe in Friday's semifinal showdown as they squared off against their longtime conference rivals.
Bethel took an early 2-0 lead, but the RedHawks would never trail again as they led by as many as seven points on three occasions, but held a narrow 41-38 lead at the halftime break. In the second half, the lead ballooned to double-digits with 15:07 to play, but Bethel trimmed the deficit to just three points less than six minutes later.
From there, however, the RedHawks surged ahead thanks to a 23-11 run, highlighted by Darius Forrest's jam with 2:25 left in the contest that put the RedHawks ahead by nine points. Forrest blocked a Bethel shot on the ensuing defensive trip and started a fast break that culminated with Reginald Porter's jam to cap the victory.
For the game, the RedHawks sank 32-of-61 attempts from the floor and shot a blistering 66.7 percent in the second half.
Monte Burney led the RedHawks with 20 points on a 7-of-16 effort. The senior contributed in all facets of the RedHawk victory, however, as he recorded five rebounds, four assists, three blocks and three steals.
Four other RedHawks finished in double-figures, including Forrest, who scored 15 points and tracked down 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.
A day after being held to just two points and without a field goal, Josh Watson bounced back with 18 points on a 6-of-9 effort from the floor, including a tidy 4-of-5 mark from beyond the arc.
Kadijon Townsend and Dacoby Burnett scored 10 points in backup duty for the RedHawks, who advanced to their first-ever SSAC conference tournament final.
Bethel finished with three double-digit performers of their own, highlighted by Jonathan Williams 7-of-11, 15-point effort.
"Bethel is a really tough club," RedHawks head coach Scott Combs said. "They came at us for 40 minutes and we needed a strong effort to keep them at bay. Our guys stepped up in a lot of areas tonight, not just on the scoresheet. Everyone made plays to help us keep this tournament run going."
With the win, the RedHawks earned a rematch against No. 5 seed William Carey (Miss.) University in Saturday's conference title game. The Crusaders (21-10) dispatched tournament top-seed Dalton State (Ga.) College with a last-minute comeback in their semifinal contest.
In addition to the conference tournament crown, the winner of Saturday's title game will earn the conference's second automatic berth to the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship in Kansas City, Missouri later this month.
The RedHawks swept the two regular-season meetings against the Crusaders, but both victories were by a combined six points.
Tipoff in Saturday's title game is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex.
