MANKATO, Minn. – The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team Saturday saw a 20-point second half lead turn into a one possession game after a big comeback from Wisconsin Lutheran College before eventually putting the game away late to claim a 95-87 win. With the win the Vikings improve 2-0 on the year while the Warriors fall to 1-1.
After the teams played to a 7-7 score to open the game
Drew Sagedahl caught fire for the Vikings, scoring eight points in a span of two and a half minutes to propel the home team on a 12-0 run. After the teams played even again for a few minutes, WLC would go on a run of their own closing the gap to two points at 30-28.
Both teams would once again trade baskets before a
Hunter Nielsen and-one followed by a
Dominik Bangu three-pointer pushed the Vikings back to a double-digit lead at 45-34 with just under five minutes to play in the half. WLC would answer with a two before
Jax Madson would knock down a three as Bethany led by 12 with 3:47 to play. The Warriors then stepped things up on the defensive end, holding the Vikings scoreless for the rest of the half while scoring nine points of their own to trail just 48-45 at the break.
Bethany didn't let the final few minutes of the first half slow their offense down though, as they came out of the gates on fire in the second half. After a miss on their first possession the Vikings would score on 12 of their next 15 possessions to open the half on a 25-8 run and hold a 73-53 lead with 12:49 to go.
Wisconsin Lutheran would answer with seven straight to close the gap before Bethany scored four quick points to push it back to 17. Over the next four and a half minutes though, the Warriors would outscore the Vikings 20-6 as they would trim the lead to just three points with five minutes to play. Over the next few minutes the teams played even before WLC would score on back-to-back possessions to cut the deficit to one with 1:47 to play. Sagedahl was then looking for his shot on the ensuing possession before kicking to Bangu who nailed what proved to be the dagger with just over a minute left. The Vikings would step things up defensively on the final few possessions, holding WLC scoreless for the remainder of the contest and sinking their free throws to claim the win.
Sagedahl led the Vikings in the contest with 24 points while Nielsen posted 21 for the second straight night to go along with 13 boards for a second straight double-double. Madson also reached double-digits with 18 points to add along to seven rebounds, while Bangu poured in 14 off the bench on 6-of-10 shooting.
The Vikings will be back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Simpson for a 6 p.m. contest.
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