Box Score MANKATO, Minn. – The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team hosted UW-Superior for its first Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) contest on Friday and saw a 17-point lead slip late before sealing an 85-82 victory. With the win the Vikings improve to 8-0 overall and 1-0 in the conference while the Yellowjackets fall to 2-5 overall and 0-1 in the UMAC. 


 
The Vikings got off to a quick start in this one, getting out to an 11-2 lead thanks in part to seven early points from Drew Sagedahl. The Yellowjackets would respond with six straight points before Bethany would re-extend their lead to 23-12 on a run capped off by another Sagedahl three. Bethany would continue to hold a lead around 10 points for a majority of the half before Superior would score eight straight points to trim the lead to 39-36 with a minute left. The Vikings however, would close out the half with a free throw, a layup, and a Mason Ackley dunk to lead 44-36 at the break.
 
The visitors came out of the break hot, as they connected on a pair of triples before gaining a three point play the old fashioned way to trail by one just two minutes into the half. The Vikings would slowly rebuild their lead to 12 after a Xavier Patterson three with just under nine minutes remaining before extending it further after another Sagedahl three was followed by a Riley Ashburn layup to put the home team up 75-58 with five minutes to play. The Yellowjackets would respond though, going on a 10-3 run to cut the lead to 10 points with three minutes remaining. Pressing down double-digits, Superior would get a few steals on errant passes and a big three would pull them within five with 1:40 to play before another three with a minute left cut the lead to two. Sagedahl would hit another layup to put the Vikings up four with 45 seconds remaining before Superior answered with a layup of their own to keep the lead at two with 30 seconds to play. After another steal, they would miss a layup before getting a putback to even the game. With the game tied and the shot clock off, Sagedahl would get fouled on the Vikings ensuing possession and make one of two free throws before Superior quickly tried to inbound, however, their player slipped resulting in a free lane for a Hunter Nielsen dunk. The Yellowjackets would get a shot at the buzzer but it was no good as Bethany escaped with the win.
 
Drew Sagedahl led all scorers in the contest with 26 points, while Hunter Nielsen posted a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Bethany will be back in action on Saturday when they play Northland at 3:00 p.m.