Most basketball teams subscribe to a theory. They hope to win the close games against the top teams, and you take care of business early against the teams you should beat, and put them away.
The Bethel Bees bought into that idea on Friday, jumping to a double-figure halftime lead, and rolled to an easy 51-26 win over Ansonia Friday night at the Beehive.

It was also a night where the Bethel boys soccer, cross country, and golf teams were recognized for capturing their respective league titles this past fall.
“Defense is something big that we focus on, and we also want to take advantage of things and push the ball down the floor,” said Bethel coach Rick Hickman. “When you play great defense, you get a lot of transition chances to push the ball.  We did that tonight.”
Bethel jumped out early, leading 11-3 in the first three minutes.  Scott Masin did a lot of the early damage, with eight of those points, including six of them on easy inside shots controlling the paint.
After the early lead, Bethel watched as Ansonia made their run to close the gap.  Actually, they watched Kyle Young as he scored all eight of Ansonia’s points in a span of two minutes, closing the Bethel lead to 15-12.  Grant Samuel closed the first quarter with a layup making it a five point game after one.
“Ansonia is known for their 2-3 matchup zone, so we felt we had a chance to take advantage of our size,” Hickman said. 
Bethel started pulling away in the second period, and their defense took over.  The Bees were using the outside game of Ben Schweiterman and Daniel Yates, along with the inside game of Kyle Seale, their defense only allowed five points in the period to the Tigers, and led 28-17 at the half.
The third period was more of the same.  Leading 30-16 two minutes into the quarter, Bethel went on a 7-0 run, with five points coming from Masin, and Bethel led 35-16.
Ansonia recovered for a short run, but Michael James scored twice in the closing minute of the third quarter, and the Bees were comfortably ahead 41-22 after three.
“We have tried to be a deeper team, and get more kids involved, and tonight we did a good job of that,” Hickman said.  “Ben (Schweiterman) stepped up tonight, as did Kyle (Seale).  It’s good to have more balance and people who can score.”
Masin led with 17, while James added 12.  Jon Sutton dished six assists with four steals.
Bethel outscored the Tigers 10-4 in the fourth period to finish the game and improve their record to 7-2 overall, 6-0 in the Cross County Conference. 
They have a huge conference game coming up on Friday at pre-season league favorite Tri-Village.
“They know they will have to beat us at their place to get back into the league race,” Hickman said.  “That is going to be a tough game for the guys.”