GOSHEN, Ind. — Austin Branagan scored 20 points Saturday, but the Goshen College men's basketball team lost 101-70 to NAIA Division II no. 11 Bethel University in Crossroads League and U.S. Highway 20 Cup action Saturday in Gunden Gymnasium.

Sheddrick Porter Jr. added 10 points off the bench for the Maple Leafs (4-16, 0-8), while Michael Bowers had 9 points to go with a game-high-tying 6 assists. Tajh Curry added 7 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.

Bethel (17-3, 5-3) got 15 points apiece from TreVion Crews and Nick Pluta, pacing a set of seven players that finished in double figures. Crews also led the team with 5 assists while Grant Gelon had 7 rebounds and 4 steals.

The Pilots came in one make short of 50 percent from the floor, going 39-for-79, in addition to connecting on 8 three-pointers and 15 free throws. Goshen shot 41 percent from the floor and 35 percent from distance, outdoing BU's 31 percent in the latter category.

Bethel outrebounded Goshen 50-36 and picked up 12 steals.

Goshen led in the early going, but a 12-3 Pilot run put the visitors in front and a later 11-0 spurt ran the margin out to 18 points. Branagan and Bowers then combined four five straight Maple Leaf buckets before Porter and Curry carried the load into halftime when Bethel led 48-37.

Branagan, Bowers and Ben Cotton all scored as Goshen trimmed its deficit to 4 three minutes after halftime, but Pluta and Keonte Jenkins combined for 10 of the next 15 points to push the lead out once more. Another 6-0 spurt after a Porter score put the lead above 20, where it would stay.

All but one Pilot who played scored; Goshen put 11 players in the scoring column.

The victory restored Bethel's lead to a full point, 4½ to 3½, in the U.S. Highway 20 Cup, the rivalry trophy between the two schools that is in its first year of competition. The next Cup points on the line come in four weeks, on Feb. 14 and 15 in the Crossroads League indoor track and field championships.

Goshen returns to the court Wednesday in a Crossroads League visit to Spring Arbor University, which will bring each team to the halfway point of the league schedule by playing each opponent once. Tip-off in Michigan is set for 7 p.m.