MANKATO, Minn.-- The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team (13-9 overall, 9-3 UMAC) concludes the regular season on the road. The Vikings will face Northwestern (17-6, 11-1) Friday at 7:15 p.m. and North Central (13-10, 7-5) Saturday at 4:45 p.m. The Eagles are first in the UMAC standings with the Vikings are second, and the Rams are fourth.

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Friday
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Saturday
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The Series
UNW owns the series lead at 30-12, which includes the last three. BLC owns the lead at 15-5 over North Central

Bethany Lutheran
The Vikings enter the week on a seven-game winning streak.

Four players average in double digits as senior Brian Smith (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) leads the team with 17.5 PPG. Junior Hunter Nielsen (New Prague, Minn.) follows at 13.4, senior Cire Mayfield (St. Louis Park, Minn.) is at 12.2, and junior Justin Schrupp (Danube, Minn.) averages 12.0.

Nielsen leads the team on the glass with 8.0 rebounds/game and a school-record 53 blocks. Smith has a team-high 106 assists and 40 steals.

Career Record Watch
Mayfield is second in assists (396), field goals (456), and points (1,225), fourth in double doubles (7), seventh in free throws (209), and 10th in three-point field goals (104). Nielsen is first in blocks (110) and tied for fourth in double doubles (7). Schrupp is seventh in three-point field goals (127).

Senior Jared Milinkovich (New Prague, Minn.) is first in games played (113), second in steals (147) and rebounds (602), third in blocks (79), tied for fifth in double doubles (6), and fifth in games started (86).

Smith is tied for fifth in steals (106) and double doubles (6), and sixth in assists (281).

Season Record Watch
Nielsen is first in blocks (53), tied for fourth in double doubles (5), and 10th in rebounds (176).

Schrupp is tied for seventh in three-point field goals (58). Smith is ninth in assists (106) and 10th in steals (40).

National Stat Rankings
Bethany Lutheran ranks in the top 100 of 16 national stat team categories. 

The Vikings are: eighth in free-throw percentage (76.9), 13th in defensive rebounds/game (31.5), 29th in points/game (84.0), 33rd in assists/game (17.5), 34th in rebounds/game (42.77), 39th in assists (384), 55th in rebounds (941), 62nd in steals/game (9.1), 63rd in steals (200), 65th in blocked shots (86), 67th in blocked shots/game (3.9), 68th in three-point field goals made/game (8.9), 70th in turnovers forced/game (16.27), 79th in scoring margin (+7.6), 85th in three-point field goals made (195), and 96th in opponent field-goal percentage (41.4). 

Individually, senior Brian Smith (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), junior Justin Schrupp (Danube, Minn.), and classmate Hunter Nielsen (New Prague, Minn.) find their names in the top 100. 

Smith ranks 23rd in assists/game (5.7), 52nd in assists (109), 73rd in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.10), and 87th in steals/game (2.11).

Schrupp ranks 79th in three-point field goals made (58), 95th in three-point field-goal percentage (35.6), and 98th in three-point field goals made/game (2.64).

Nielsen ranks 12th in blocked shots (53), 14th in blocked shots/game (2.41), and 15th in field-goal percentage (61.9).

Northwestern
The Eagles have clinched at least a share of the regular season championship.

Three players average in double figures as Noah Alm has 20.6, Kyle Kaemingk has 15.8, and Henry Fahnbulleh is at 10.2. Owen Boerema leads the team on the glass with 7.4 rebounds/game.

North Central
Two players are in double digits as Micah Filer has 19.5 PPG and Justin Castro follows with 13.1 PPG. Tanner Holtman is the leading rebounder with 5.4/game.