Box Score Men's Basketball Hands North Central First Conference Loss
Assistant Sam Peters Comments on Vikings Victory MANKATO, Minn. – The North Central Rams paid a visit to the campus of Bethany Lutheran College on Saturday afternoon for an Upper Midwest Athletic Conference battle with the Bethany men's basketball team. The Vikings efforts in the second half proved to be the difference as Bethany handed North Central its first UMAC loss of the season.
In the first half of action, Bethany looked sluggish on both the offensive and defensive end while North Central tried to expand their lead throughout the entire half. Going into halftime, North Central lead 32-28 over the Vikings.
The second half of play is when the Vikings switched their game plan from a zone defense to a man-to-man defense which provided the team with stops that translated into points on the offensive end. The men's basketball team took their first lead of the second half with 8:30 remaining in the contest.
Brandyn Frelix scored 21 second half points to total 29 points in the victory over the previous unbeaten Rams.
Frelix also added eight rebounds for his team.
Senior
Nick Sanborn had another impressive showing for Bethany, finishing with 17 points and 11 rebounds to record his first double-double of the season.
Neil Eichten contributed with 13 points and five assists in 30 minutes of court time. Rounding out double figures for Bethany was
Zach Brandts who added 11 points and four rebounds.
Bethany (5-9, 3-3 in UMAC) finished the conference game shooting 76.7% (23-30) from the free throw line which helped solidified the victory down the stretch. From the field, the Vikings finished at 42.4% (25-59) while connecting on five three-point shots on the afternoon.
For North Central, Jared High and Joel Cline scored 14 points each while Travis Voight and Cody Martin added 13 points for the Rams.
On Friday, January 15
th the men's basketball team has another UMAC matchup with the Minn.-Morris Cougars at home starting at 5:30 p.m. Buffalo Wild Wings will be the game sponsor, providing entertainment throughout the men's and women's games. Come out to the Sports and Fitness Center and support Bethany athletics.
