MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team traveled to Minneapolis Friday night to take on North Central and posted a convincing 88-58 win over the Rams in a Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) battle. With the win the Vikings improve to 13-2 overall and 4-0 in the UMAC while the Rams fall to 9-6 overall and 2-2 in the conference. 

Bethany got off to a quick start in this one as they were able to get out to a 20-10 lead after Jax Madson found the bottom of the net from downtown for the second time. The Rams would keep it around that margin until the five minute mark, before the Vikings ended the half on a 10-4 run and led at the break 45-29. 

NCU would start the second half off on a better foot, as they would trim the deficit to 53-43 in the first five minutes. Things would linger around that 10-point margin until a Xavier Patterson shot in the paint would spark a run with 12 minutes left. The Vikings would go on a 13-3 run after Patterson's finish that was capped off with a five straight points from Madson. Bethany would go on to close out the game in the final few minutes highlighted by a perfect pocket pass from Madson to find Ackley for a dunk with three minutes left. 

Madson led all scorers in the contest with 23 points to go along with seven rebounds while Drew Sagedahl had 18 points and eight boards. The Vikings shot exactly 50 percent from the field (34-of-68) in this one while shooting 53 percent (10-of-19) from beyond the arc.

Bethany will be back in action tomorrow when they play at Northwestern at 3 p.m.