MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Bethany men's basketball team opened its season on Friday night and took a convincing 97-80 win over Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). With the win the Vikings move to 1-0 while the Raiders fall to 0-1.
After the teams traded buckets early to a 4-4 start, the Vikings went on an 11-0 run thanks to a trio of three pointers and a Mason Ackley dunk. The Raiders would respond and cut the deficit to five, before Bethany responded in a big way. The Vikings went on a 19-6 run with Thomas Datka coming off the bench and hitting a pair of big three pointers during that stretch. As MSOE started to claw back into the game near the end of the half, it was Jax Madson and Cooper Hansen who pushed the team to a big half time lead. Hansen got three layups and Madson hit three triples as Bethany was able to take a 58-37 lead into the halftime.
As the second half begun, the teams went basket for basket until around the 14 minute mark when the Raiders went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 74-61. As the Vikings hit their lull, it was Ackley who pulled them out of it with seven straight points to keep MSOE at bay. The Raiders would cut the lead to 11 with five minutes remaining, but Bethany would close out the game late to seal the 97-80 win.
Madson had a phenomenal first game for Bethany putting up 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting including 7-of-12 from beyond the arc. Ackley also excelled in his first contest for the Vikings, putting up a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds while adding four steals and four assists. Hunter Nielsen and Drew Sagedahl were also in double figures with 14 points apiece and Nielsen adding three blocks.
Bethany is back in action tomorrow when they take on Wisconsin Lutheran at 5 p.m.
