PELLA, Iowa—The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team (1-0 overall) was able to get past Central (0-1) in the 77-67 win in overtime Saturday.
This was the first win at Kuyper Field House for BLC.
The Dutch took the lead for the first time of the night with 2:38 to go (59-57). After a technical foul on the Vikings, Central made one of the free throws to make it 60-57.
Junior Justin Schrupp (Danube, Minn.) made a triple to even it at 60 all with 2:29 left. The Dutch made it a two-point game with their jumper but Schrupp answered again with another three to give BLC the lead at 63-62 with 1:01 to go.
Central made a three with 0:47 to regain the lead at 65-63. After missed free throws by the Vikings, they fouled to put the Dutch on the line. Their player made one of two attempts to make it 66-63 with :20 left.
As was the theme of the end of the game, Schrupp made another triple to tie it once more at 66-66 with two seconds on the clock.
Central called a timeout, and ran one more play, but the half court shot was short to send it into overtime.
Junior Brian Smith (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) made the steal and took the fastbreak to the other end to regain the lead at 68-66 10 seconds into the extra session.
Freshman Riley Ashburn (Renville, Minn.) made a layup and drew the foul with 2:22 remaining. He completed the three-point play to make it 71-66.
The Dutch were fouled and made one of two free throws to bring the score to 71-67 with 1:37 left.
Ashburn executed another three-point play with :39 left to give BLC the 74-67 lead.
Senior Jacob Milinkovich (New Prague, Minn.) made one of two free throws and Ashburn later had another layup with eight seconds left to make the final score 77-67.
Four players finished in double digits as Smith had 20, Schrupp had 17, senior Cire Mayfield (St. Louis Park, Minn.) had 12 and junior Hunter Nielsen (New Prague, Minn.) had 10.
Schrupp had a double double with 10 rebounds and Nielsen followed with eight.
The Vikings open a two-game homestand Wednesday when they host Carleton at 7 p.m.
