LEBANON, Tenn. (02.18.10) - The Wildcats fell behind early and was not ever able to recover in their 80-60 loss to the hosting Bulldogs of Cumberland University. Bethel struggled from three point range, 1 of 11 (9.1%) and from the free throw line 9 of 20 (45%) in the loss.

Cumberland jumped on the Wildcats early, scoring 23 of the game's first 29 points. The Bulldogs scored 15 points off of 15 Bethel turnovers in the first half. A 10-2 run pushed the Cumberland lead to 23 - its largest of the half - with 4:45 remaining on the first-half clock. Bethel put together their biggest run of the opening half scoring five straight points with 19 second left in the first frame but trailed 41-22 at the break.

Bethel shot better in the second half hitting 15 of 30 (50%) but Cumberland scored the first seven points of the half. Cumberland built a lead as large as 32 points with a short seven-point run with 6:35 left. Bethel continued to chip away but ran out of time.

Dustin Ferguson led the team with 12 points; he had two rebounds, one assist and one steal. Andre Crudup had 10 points, two rebounds, one assist and two steals. Phillip White, Gavin McDaniel and Alexandre Emelyanov each had seven points.

Bethel is 11-16 (3-10) on the year. The Wildcats will be in Batesville, Ark. to play the Scots of Lyon College on Saturday, February 18, 2010 with game time set for 4:00pm. There will not be a radio broadcast, but fans can follow the live statistical webstream at www.bethelathletics.com