MANKATO, Minn. - Drew Sagedahl, Xavier Patterson, and Mason Ackley combined for 87 points as the Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team defeated Crown on Saturday 110-105 in double overtime. With the win the Vikings improve to 15-3 overall and 6-1 in the UMAC while the Polars fall to 11-8 overall and 2-5 in the conference.
Crown had the hot hand from the start in this one taking a 16-8 lead less than five minutes in. The Vikings were able to slowly whittle away at the lead, cutting it to 32-30 with six minutes to play in the first half. The Polars continued to hold onto their lead though, as they got a layup with time expiring to take a 48-43 advantage into the break.
Bethany would take its first lead of the second half at 51-50 after a Mason Ackley layup at the 16:44 mark, but Crown would quickly answer to regain the lead. The two teams would remain close until the 9:49 mark, where Crown opened up a 9-0 run to take an 81-72 lead with seven and half minutes remaining. They would extend that lead to 10 with under seven minutes left before the Vikings made a push to regain the lead. It was Ackley who keyed a 12-2 Bethany run with a layup and he was also the one to finish it, hammering home a putback dunk and then getting a steal and lay-in on the ensuing possession to tie the game at 86. Sagedahl would hit a jumper to give Bethany a two-point lead with 1:55 left before the Polars answered on the next possession to re-tie the game. Both teams would then come up empty on their final two possessions as we went to overtime.
The first overtime period went back and forth early, with Crown eventually gaining a 94-90 advantage. Sagedahl would get a layup with 3:18 remaining and after a few defensive stops Patterson would convert inside to tie the game. Crown would score again before a Patterson and-one on the next possession put Bethany back in the drivers seat with a 97-96 lead. The Polars would score on their next possession, but Hunter Nielsen would head to the free throw line and split the attempts to tie the game and send it to a second overtime period.
The two teams played even the first few minutes of the second overtime before a Patterson bucket inside gave Bethany a 104-102 lead. Crown would split a pair of free throws at the 1:27 mark to keep the Vikings in front and Ackley would convert a bucket inside with 1:07 left to put the home team up by three. The Polars would trim the deficit back to one, but Sagedahl would hit a pair of free throws with 26 seconds left and after a defensive stop, Justin Schrupp would knock down a pair at the line with seven seconds left to seal the victory.
Sagedahl led all scorers in the contest with 36 points to go along with 11 rebounds for a double-double. Patterson added 27 to the Vikings tally while Ackley also notched a double-double with 24 points and 13 rebounds. The Vikings made just two three-pointers in the contest but converted on 18-of-20 attempts at the line.
Bethany will next be in action on Saturday when they travel to MLC for a 3 p.m. contest.
