MANKATO, Minn.—The Bethany Lutheran College men's basketball team defeated Gustavus 85-83 in an exhibition game Friday night.
 
Five Vikings finished in double digits as sophomore Cire Mayfield (St. Louis Park, Minn.) had 17 points, junior Brian Smith (Champlin Park, Minn.) and senior Trenton Krueger (Eagan, Minn.) each had 16, and sophomore Jared Milinkovich (New Prague, Minn.) and freshman Hunter Nielsen (New Prague, Minn.) both tallied 12.

Krueger, Smith and Mayfield were all perfect from the free throw line.  
 
Sophomore Jerret Utpadel (Geneva, Minn.) had a team-best eight rebounds.
 
The Vikings took the 46-42 lead at halftime and the second frame featured two ties, the last one at 83 all with 56 seconds to play on a basket by Mayfield. Krueger blocked the Gusties layup attempt and Utpadel got the rebound to give Bethany the ball with :26 to go. Krueger scored the game-winning basket on a lob from Mayfield with five seconds left.
 
Gustavus was able to run one more play, but was unsuccessful as the shot attempt was rebounded to give BLC the win.
 
The Vikings owned the team advantages in two of the three shooting percentage categories: field goal percentage (47.9 vs. .462) and free-throw percentage (81.8 vs. 636). BLC also owned the battle of the boards (41-36), which included on the offensive glass (12-9).
 
Bethany opens the regular season next Friday, Nov. 8 when it hosts Simpson College at 7 p.m.