MANKATO, Minn. – The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team traveled across town to take on MSU-Mankato on Saturday in an exhibition and fell to the Mavericks by a score of 97-63. MSU, who came into the contest rated No. 12 in NCAA Division II, moves to 6-0 with the win. 

The Vikings opened the game up strong with Mason Ackley finishing on a shot inside on the first possession before hammering home a dunk on the next Bethany possession to take a 4-0 lead less than a minute in.  The Mavericks would then score 11 of the next 13 points as they would hold an 11-6 lead at the first media timeout just over five minutes into play. MSU would slowly push their lead up to nine points before two more Ackley baskets would cut the lead back to five at the midway point of the half.

The Mavericks would come out of the second media timeout and knock down a layup and three to earn their first double digit lead of the game at 27-17. The Vikings would then embark on a 9-0 run keyed by a Justin Schrupp three pointer to cut the deficit to one point at the 6:44 mark. MSU would catch fire over the next two minutes though, as they would use an 11-2 run to take a 40-29 advantage with four minutes to go. Ackley would once again respond to the run with four points to cut the deficit to seven but MSU would build their lead back to 46-37 headed into the halftime break.

MSU would open the second half at a 12-3 advantage to hold a 58-40 lead with just over 16 minutes to go before Kegan Heiderscheidt would quell the run with a mid-range jumper. The Mavericks were relentless offensively though pushing their lead to 20 points before five unanswered from Bethany would cut the deficit to 15 points with 12 to play. That was as close as the Vikings would get though, as MSU would start to run away with it over the final 12 minutes to take the win.

Hunter Nielsen led the Vikings in the contest, scoring 20 points to go along with 12 rebounds while Ackley had 16 points to go along with four rebounds.

Bethany is next in action on Wednesday when they travel to UW-La Crosse for a 7 p.m. showdown.