Basketball Recap: Ben Bestgen Key Part of Team Effort in Cardinals Win

It may have taken overtime to finish the job, but Tipton ultimately got the result they hoped for on Tuesday. They managed a 63-58 victory over the Fayette Falcons. This was payback for the Cardinals, who suffered a 77-55 defeat the last time these two teams met.

Ben Bestgen

Steals

01/14/25 vs Macks Creek	7
02/11/25 @ Fayette	5
12/06/24 vs New Bloomfield	5
01/11/25 @ Lincoln	3
12/27/24 vs Laquey	3
+ 7 more games

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Tipton to victory, but perhaps none more so than Ben Bestgen, who went 7-for-15 en route to 16 points in addition to five assists and five steals. Tipton is 2-1 when Bestgen posts five or more steals, but 6-13 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Landon Bracht, who almost dropped a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds.

Bestgen wasn't the only one working in the assist department: Tipton was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Fayette only racked up eight assists.

Fayette lost despite a true team effort on offense. The best among them was Blake Braden, who went 7-for-15 to rack up 16 points and six boards. That's the most points he has posted since back in December of 2024. Another player making a difference was Payton Oeth, who went 7-for-10 on his way to 15 points.

Tipton is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 8-14 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.3 points over those games. As for Fayette, they dropped their record down to 2-19 with the loss, which was their eighth straight at home.

Tipton has already played their next contest (against Versailles), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing. As for Fayette, they will face off against Harrisburg at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.