MANKATO, Minn.—The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team (5-3 overall, 4-3) defeated North Central (8-8, 5-3) 76-68 in overtime Monday night.
 
The game was tied 34-34 at halftime, and the Rams later led 66-61 with 1:11 to play in the second half. A jumper from senior Jared Milinkovich (New Prague, Minn.) followed by a triple from sophomore Justin Schrupp (Danube, Minn.) knotted the game at 66 all with 30 seconds remaining. After a timeout, North Central ran one more play but the last-second three-point shot did not fall in to send the game to overtime.
 
Bethany opened the extra session with two consecutive treys from sophomore Hunter Nielsen (New Prague, Minn.) and senior Brian Smith (Brooklyn Park, Min.) to reclaim the lead which it never relinquished. The Rams finished 1-9 from the field and 0-4 from beyond the arc in overtime.

Nielsen had a career-high 20 points and Smith joined him with 20 points. Milinkovich rounded out the leading scorers with 11.   
 
The Vikings will be the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament, and will host UW-Superior Thursday, March 4. Game time is yet to be announced.