MANKATO, Minn. – The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team (2-0 overall, 1-0 UMAC) opened the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) portion of its schedule with a 97-70 win over Martin Luther (0-3, 0-2) Monday night. This marked the 11
th-straight win by the Vikings in the series.
Four players finished in double figures as senior Jared Milinkovich (New Prague, Minn.) led the way with 26 points, just four shy of his career mark. He also pulled in seven rebounds, added four assists, three steals, and was a perfect 9-9 at the free throw line. Junior Kaden Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.) and senior Brian Smith (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) each finished with 16 points.
Sophomore Hunter Nielsen (New Prague, Minn.) had 17 points and added four blocks.
The Knights led 16-12 nine minutes into the contest, until BLC answered with a 10-0 run over the next minute and a half to regain the lead for good. The Vikings continued to build their lead for the duration of the frame and took the 24-point lead (49-25) into the locker room at halftime.
Milinkovich had 12 points in the first half alone and Nielsen had 11.
Bethany continued to lead in the second half and pushed the advantage to as many as 33 on a trey by sophomore Justin Schrupp (Danube, Minn.).
The Vikings owned the team advantages in both field goal percentage categories, and held Martin Luther to 17.4% from three-point range.
BLC continues its four-game homestand Thursday when they host Crown at 7 p.m.
