Pulaski, Tenn. - A very talented Martin Methodist squad appeared to be on the verge of blowing out the Bethel Wildcats in the first half of their contest Thursday night in Pulaski. The RedHawks used a 32-9 run in an eight minute stretch to take a commanding 47-23 lead. The Wildcats showed a lot of heart battling the remainder of the night and had MMU back on their heels several times in the second half, cutting the lead to seven on several occasions but in the end, Martin Methodist pulled away and won 96-85.

Helping Bethel in their big comeback was primarily George Coleman who scored a career high 34 points. It was the most points scored by a Wildcat in a game this season. Jarvis Palmer tossed in 20 points for Bethel. Four players had 20 or more points for MMU. Ree McCrory led the RedHawks with 25 points. Q Stewart added 24 and yanked down 11 rebounds.

MMU shot 48 percent from the floor. Bethel shot 40 percent from the field. A 22-8 advantage on second chance points was the difference for Martin Methodist in the contest. Bethel also hurt themselves with 19 turnovers.

The Wildcats had their four game winning streak snapped and fell to 14-7 overall and 4-3 in the conference. The No.9 RedHawks improved to 16-4 overall and 6-1 in conference play.

Bethel Head Coach Jeff Britt was pleased with the comeback but said the lapses in the first half was simply too much to overcome. "It was a three point game and we felt fairly good about what we were doing and then they just exploded. Our guards played with their backcourt but our big guys did not play well against their big people. The second chance points just killed us." Britt added, "It is a short turn around but we have to get ready for a stern test in Henderson Saturday."

The Cats travel to Freed-Hardeman for a 4 p.m. tip-off Saturday afternoon.