Box Score

Mankato, Minn. - The Bethany Lutheran men’s basketball team opened up conference play tonight with a 76-67 win over rival Martin Luther. After a back and forth first five minutes of the game the Vikings took over and never trailed again.

Bethany Lutheran had focused on improving their defense and it showed throughout the night holding the Knights to a low 33.8 field goal percentage, and 30.4 percent behind the arc. Bethany shot 50.9 percent inside the arc and a hot 53.8 percent from three point range. In addition to the solid three-point shooting the Vikings had a 43-16 advantage in points in the paint.

Many of those points can be attributed to freshmen Sami Onsomu (Mankato, Minn./Mankato East) who led the Vikings with 21 points and eight rebounds. Garrett Benson (Rochester, Minn./Rochester Mayo) contributed 12 points while dishing out five assists. Both Alex Weldon (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/LinMar) and Derek Peterson (Oakdale, Minn./Tartan) had 11 points.

Bethany (4-8, 1-0) will hit the road this weekend to continue their conference schedule. The Vikings will play in Duluth, Minnesota against St. Scholastica on Friday and in Ashland, Wisconsin on Saturday against Northland.