MANKATO, Minn. – The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team pulled away late on Friday night to claim an 87-71 victory over Carleton. With the win the Vikings improve to 7-2 overall while the Knights move to 6-4.



Carleton came out of the gates strong in this one, pushing out to a 19-8 lead in the first eight minutes. After the Knights would push their lead to 21-10, the Vikings would make their first big run of the contest scoring nine straight to cut the deficit to two.

The two teams would play even over the next six minutes with the Knights still leading 35-34 before Bethany shifted the momentum of the contest. Xavier Patterson would hit a three that would spark a 13-2 run to end the half, with Dominik Bangu hammering down a dunk late before a Jax Madson three heading into the half would send the Vikings to the break up 47-37.

In the second half, the two teams didn't really budge in the first 10 minutes of play with neither making any substantial runs. Bangu highlighted the sequence with a windmill dunk midway through the frame, but the Knights would halt the momentum with a tough bucket on the other end.   

With Bethany still clinging to a 12-point advantage with 9:34 to go, Carleton would whittle away at the lead and go on a 9-0 run over the next two and a half minutes to bring the score to 66-63 with seven minutes to go. Hunter Nielsen would end the run with a bucket inside off an assist from Madson before a Vikings timeout.

The timeout proved to be a good call from coach Pat Garvin, as Patterson would knock down a three on the Vikings next possession before Madson finished inside to push the lead back to 10. The Knights would hit a three to cut the lead back to five, but that was as close as they would get. The Vikings were able to mount a run with a Madson three with two minutes remaining proving to be the dagger as it pushed the Vikings lead to 11 and one they wouldn't look back on.

Madson led the Vikings in the contest with 24 points to go along with nine rebounds and four assists. Bangu adding 19 points and eight rebounds while Nielsen adding 16 points and corralled 15 rebounds, all on the defensive end. Patterson also entered double figures with 13 points, while also dishing out seven assists.

Bethany is next in action on Tuesday, when they travel to Florida for the Steven Moore Sunshine Classice where they'll take on St. Joseph (Conn.) at 1 p.m. EST.