ASKEWVILLE – Bethel Christian Academy improved to 3-2 for the season Thursday.

The Eagles downed Pungo Christian Academy 78-51 to claim their third win in the 2011-12 campaign.

Pungo jumped out to a 4-0 lead with baskets by David Talley and Colby Latham. Shane Tripp cut the lead to two with a basket with 6:26 left in the first quarter.

Tripp scored the traditional three-pointer with 2:36 left in the quarter to put Bethel up 9-8 before Kyle Freeman connected on a triple to push the lead to four (16-12).

Bethel’s halftime lead went to eight at 31-23 behind the scoring of Tripp (4), Zack Bazemore (4), Daniel Feher (3), Freeman (2) and David Simmons (2).

Tripp scored 12 of Bethel’s 18 points in the third quarter to help increase the lead to 16 (49-33).

With man-to-man defensive pressure, Bethel was able to outscore Pungo 29-18 in the fourth quarter for a final score of 78-51.

Joseph Ginn scored six of his eight points in the final period.

Tripp led the Eagles with 33 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists and seven steals. Freeman added 11 for Bethel while Feher had nine, Ginn eight and Simmons seven. Bazemore checked in with six points while Kevin Johnson and Zabian Palmer had two each.

Feher added 10 rebounds and nine blocked shots.

Latham paced the Raiders with 21 points.

A night later, the Eagles upped their record again with a 66-57 win over Epiphany in New Bern.

Freeman and Tripp connected on three-point attempts to give Bethel a 6-2 lead early.

Jared Hill’s seven points kept the score close in the first quarter.

Feher and Freeman paced Bethel in the first quarter with six points each. Bethel led 17-14 after the period ended.

After Tripp scored with 3:28 to play in the second quarter, Bethel took a 31-26 lead.

Epiphany would outscore Bethel 11-4 over the final minutes of the quarter to take a 37-35 lead at halftime.

Bethel’s defensive pressure propelled its offense as they outscored Epiphany 20-9 to take a 55-46 lead into the fourth quarter.

Tripp hit two free throws to tie the game at 37 before Feher’s two shots at the charity stripe and two from Freeman from the same place helped the Eagles get within 41-40.

Epiphany scored the next five points to open up its largest lead (46-40), but Tripp hit 10 straight for the Eagles to give his team a 50-46 edge.

Trey Hoggard drained a three-pointer to close out the quarter with Bethel leading 55-46.

Hill matched Bethel’s 11 fourth-quarter points to make the final 66-57. He tallied 27 points for the home team.

Tripp led Bethel with 27 while Freeman had 16 and Feher added 14.