Mankato, Minn. – The Bethany Vikings (15-8, 11-3) moved one game closer to a regular-season conference championship after beating Crown College (11-11, 7-6) on Wednesday evening. Crown brought a five-game UMAC winning streak into the contest, but they could not quite keep pace with the Vikings who won by a final score of 104-99.
 
Trenton Krueger got the BLC student section on their feet early after back-to-back dunks in the first minute of the game. The momentum carried the Vikings as they climbed to a 12 point lead with five minutes remaining in a high scoring first half. Before the close of the first 20 minutes, Crown stormed back with an 18-3 run and took a 50-47 lead into the break.
 
An exciting second half saw BLC take a two point lead with eight minutes left after Neil Eichten made a pair of free throws. Bethany called timeout after the free throws and took control of the game after the short break. An alley-oop dunk by Trenton Krueger sent the crowd into another frenzy. Brady Rose drove the paint and scored two points before Bradley Rose hit back-to-back threes, forcing Crown to call a timeout. The quick run would be enough separation for the Vikings as they held on for a 104-99 win.
 
Brady Rose scored 25 points for the Vikings on 7-10 shooting from the field and 10-10 at the free throw line. He added 12 rebounds to his stats for an impressive double-double. Neil Eichten scored 20 points and dished out nine assists for the Vikings. Trenton Krueger scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Bradley Rose scored 12 points. Jake Dale gave BLC 10 points off the bench on 5-7 shooting.  
 
Up Next: The Vikings host UW-Superior on Saturday, February 10th at 3 PM.
 
###
 
MEDIA: If you need further information, please feel free to contact Dan DeWitt at 507-344-7856 or email ddewitt@blc.edu