Box Score MANKATO, Minn. - The Vikings came into Tuesday's men's basketball home opener against Gustavus Adolphus knowing they were going to be in for a battle against the MIAC foe. Bethany fell behind early 17-4 and that was too much to overcome as they fell to the Gusties by a final score of 80-63.

Gustavus came out firing early going on a 10-0 run in the opening minutes of the first half. A three pointer by Trent Kuechenmeister cut the lead to eight at the nine minute mark. Not long after, another 15-0 run by the Gusties capped by back-to-back 3s from Chris Narum left the Vikings down 36-13 with 2:43 remaining in the first half. Mitch Olson completed a layup from the paint with 42 seconds remaining in the half, completing a 7-0 run to go into the half down 36-20.

It was more of the same to start the second half, as Gustavus went on a 14-4 early in the second half to go up 52-27. Sergio Najera finished off the run with a dunk, bringing the Gustavus bench to its feet. The Vikings' Rodney Tyler-Pierce hit a three pointer with 7:05 left in the second half, and transfer guard Darin Haugh got a three of his own with 4:14 left in the second half to pull within sixteen, but that was as close as to the lead as they would get.

Senior Jacob Wensmann had twelve points and a team leading seven rebounds for the Vikings. Haugh led the Bethany attack with twenty points, and went 3-6 from three. Gustavus Adolphus went 9-17 from three, and shot 58% from the field compared to the Vikings' 38%.

The Vikings' next game will be at home against Concordia-Chicago Saturday at 3 pm at home in the SFC North Gym.