MANKATO, Minn. - Xavier Patterson came off the bench to score 22 points including 14 in the last 11 minutes as the Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team defeated Simpson 99-96 on Wednesday night. With the win the Vikings move to 6-0 while Simpson falls to 5-2.
Two of the top scoring offenses in Division III met up in this one and there was no shortage of points as both teams were able to start finding the bottom of the net early. Simpson would go on a run midway through the first half as they outscored Bethany 12-6 over a 3:10 stretch to take a 25-19 lead with 9:14 to go in the first half. With the Storm leading 33-31 with 5:24 left, Bethany went on a big run of their own, outscoring Simpson 17-6 in the final 4:18 to take a 48-39 lead into the break.
After Bethany pushed their lead to 10 lead early in the second half the Storm would begin to mount their comeback, going on a 15-5 run to tie the game up at 58 apiece with 14:32 remaining. The two teams would then go back and forth trading baskets during the middle of the frame with neither able to pull away as both teams seemed to be scoring at will. Patterson would then key the Vikings late, as he would find his first basket in the second half with 10:27 to play and go on to score 12 more points from there on out. Jax Madson also had a solid run in the second half, scoring eight points in just over a minute and a half capped off by a key three pointer with 4:20 to go to put Bethany up 87-82. With the Vikings clinging to a one point lead late, Justin Schrupp would nail a three with under two minutes remaining and then Patterson would leave his mark on the game late, answering a pair of Storm scores with two baskets of his own to keep the Vikings in front. Leading by two late, Simpson would fire a three that looked on the mark, the but the Vikings would secure the rebound and Patterson would make one more free throw to give the home team a three point victory.
Patterson added 10 rebounds and five assists to his 22 points for a double-double. Hunter Nielsen also poured in 18 points for the Vikings and nine rebounds, while Mason Ackley posted a double-double of his own with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Bethany will next be in action on Saturday when they head to Wartburg for a 2 p.m. contest.
