SAINT BONIFACIUS, Minn. — The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team (8-9 overall, 4-3 UMAC) completed its perfect two-game road trip with an 80-75 win over Crown College (7-10, 3-3) Saturday evening. 

The Vikings raced out to a 28-16 lead, as they held the Storm to 5-24 (20.8%) shooting from the floor in the first 14 minutes of the contest.

Crown answered with an 8-0 run, and Bethany's first half lead was ultimately cut to three, 37-34 at halftime.

Junior Justin Schrupp (Danube, Minn.) led all Vikings' scorers with 11 points in the first half. 

Crown took its first lead of the game with 17:40 to play, and it soon forced Coach Pat Garvin to call a timeout as Bethany trailed 45-41. 

The Vikings responded by going on a 19-5 run over the next five minutes to make it 60-50. 

The Storm were able to hang around throughout the remainder of the game, but never regained the lead. 

Senior Cire Mayfield (St. Louis Park, Minn.) paced the Vikings with 18 points on 8-12 shooting. Classmate Brian Smith (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) finished with 11 points, eight rebounds, and a team-high seven assists. 
 

Junior Hunter Nielsen (New Prague, Minn.) had 14 points, six of which came from dunks, and eight rebounds on the night.  

Schrupp and freshman Riley Ashburn (Renville, Minn.) rounded out those in double digits with 15 and 10 points, respectively. Ashburn also had a team-high nine rebounds. 

Defensively, senior Jared Milinkovich (New Prague, Minn.) led the Vikings with three steals. 

BLC finished with a 50-38 advantage in points in the paint, outshot the Storm from the field (47.8% vs. 39.4%), and had eight more assists (20-12). 

Bethany is back in action next week with a home game Friday night vs. Martin Luther College. The opening tip is scheduled for 7:15 p.m.