MCKENZIE, Tenn. – Jordan Bedford's monumental night was not enough as the Belhaven Men's Basketball team fell to No. 22 Bethel University 78-75 Thursday night in Southern States Athletic Conference play.
 
The Blazers (7-15, 3-7 SSAC) upset bid of Bethel (17-4, 8-2 SSAC) came up just short on the road as the Wildcats managed to stave off Bedford's career night and a strong second half surge from the Green and Gold.
 
Bedford entered the night, his 55th career game for the Green and Gold, with 989 career points at Belhaven. With his fifth basket of the game and 12th point in the first half, Bedford became the 11th Blazer in school history to reach the 1000-point mark.
 
He wasn't finished, as Bedford stayed hot for the remainder of the first half, hitting 9-of-13 from the field, including 5-of-7 from three-point range. He also added two free throws to finish the half with 25 points.
 
Bedford would go on to add 16-second-half points in the contest and had a chance in the final seconds to close the gap, but was unable to get a heavily contested shot to fall.
 
The Covington, La. native's 41-point effort topped a career high that was set last year at Bethel at 37. It was his eighth career 30+ point performance for Belhaven, including his sixth this season. He has led Belhaven in scoring 34 times in two seasons and 19 times this year.
 
The all-time three point leader in Belhaven history entered the night with 144 three pointers made. After adding seven more, he tied the school record for threes in a game for the second time this season.
 
Despite the big half for Bedford to start the game, Belhaven entered the break trailing 36-31.
 
De'la Mayers helped to get things going for Belhaven in the second half, accounting for eight of the Blazers first 10 points to cut the deficit back and give Belhaven the lead.
 
Mayers went on to finish with 16 points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds.
 
After Mayers gave Belhaven an early second-half lead, the Blazers and Wildcats traded the lead back-and-forth several times throughout the remainder of the second half.
 
Jerrial Dawson gave the Blazers its last lead at 73-72 with 2:07 remaining, but the ranked opponents scored the next four points and were able to add another basket after Bedford cut the deficit to 76-75.
 
Dawson finished with six points and Datodrick Pinkston had seven points for the Blazers.
 
Belhaven shot 52 percent from the field in the game and the Blazers defense held Bethel to 44 percent shooting. However, Belhaven was outrebounded 47-31 and that led to the Blazers being outscored 25-6 in second chance opportunities.
 
The Blazers will look to rebound on Saturday when Belhaven travels to Blue Mountain College.