MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team (16-5 overall, 11-1 UMAC) led from the opening tipoff to the final buzzer in the 97-62 victory over North Central (5-15, 2-9) Wednesday. The Vikings increased their winning streak to 11 and the Rams dropped their third-straight.

Senior Trenton Krueger (Eagan, Minn.) and junior Brian Smith (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) co-led the team with 19 points. Sophomore Cire Mayfield (St. Louis Park, Minn.) joined them in double digits with 17.

Junior Jared Milinkovich (New Prague, Minn.) led the team with seven rebounds.

Sophomore Jarret Utpadel (Geneva, Minn.) scored the first points of the night for BLC with his triple less than a minute into the contest. Bethany later led 45-26 at halftime and continued to maintain the double digit margin in the second frame.

The Vikings owned the team advantages in two of the three shooting percentage categories, rebounds (36-28), assists (18-8), blocks (3-0), steals (9-6) and won the turnover battle (21-15).

BLC is off from competition this weekend and resumes its three-game road trip Wednesday in a first-place show down at Northwestern at 5:30 p.m.