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  • Bethany Lutheran College senior Tommy Saffert needs just seven points to become the men’s basketball team’s all-time leading scorer. John Cross

    Saffert

February 3, 2010

Multi-faceted Saffert closes in on Bethany career scoring record

Senior guard only seven points short

By Chad Courrier Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — Sometime this weekend, Tommy Saffert will become the all-time leading scorer for the Bethany Lutheran College men’s basketball team. But to define the 5-foot-7 senior guard as a scorer only gives him credit for about half of the points he’s created.

“I don’t go into a game thinking I need to score 20 points or have 10 assists,” Saffert said. “Some games, it might seem like I’m being more aggressive because I’ll shoot a lot, but I’m just trying to take what’s there. I don’t think of myself as a scorer; I like to get assists because that means I’m making plays for my teammates.”

Saffert needs only seven points to become the leading scorer at Bethany, which has rewritten the record books to reflect only statistics accrued since joining the NCAA in 2004. Alfonso Mayfield holds the record of 1,162 points, with Saffert next at 1,155. Travis Priem (1,118) and Dewan Grant (1,067) are the other 1,000-point scorers in the last five seasons.

But Saffert also holds the school record of 391 assists, meaning he’s created at least another 800 points for his teammates.

“His greatest attribute is that I don’t think he cares if he scores,”  Bethany coach Rick Jeddeloh said. “If  he scores, great. If he makes the pass, great. If he breaks the press, great. He just wants to win.”

Saffert has been a local basketball fixture for the last nine season, cracking the varsity lineup at Mankato West as an eighth-grader. Despite his size, he’s succeeded because of his quickness, work ethic and smarts.

He ranks second at West in scoring with 1,438 points and second with 517 assists, and he helped the Scarlets win a state championship as a sophomore in 2004.

Saffert then moved on to Bethany, which was early in its transition to Division III and the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference. He’s played in 99 games, starting a school-record 86 games. He also has Bethany records for 202 3-pointers made and 551 3-pointers attempted.

“It’s been a good decade, almost, of basketball in Mankato,” Saffert said. “It’s been a lot of fun.”

This season, Saffert is averaging 12.9 points, scoring at least 10 points in 14 of 18 games. He’s been the Vikings’ leading scorer nine times, with a season-high 31 points against Martin Luther on Jan. 12.

“It’s amazing at his size that he can score as much as he can,” Jeddeloh said. “We do some things to get him open, but he does a lot of things on his own. He can play the point or the wing, and that helps take the pressure off some of our younger guards.”

Saffert, who received UMAC player of the week honors on Tuesday, needed 33 points to break the record going into Saturday’s home game against Martin Luther. He scored 26, trying not to put additional pressure on himself to break the record at home.

The points will come, and he’s hoping that he and the team have a big night Friday at Northwestern.

“It’ll be nice to get this out of the way,” he said. “I don’t want to worry about points. I just want to worry about winning.”

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