WINTER PARK, Fla. – The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team outscored Suffolk 51-34 in the second half on Wednesday afternoon en route to a 94-72 victory. With the win the Vikings move to 8-3 overall while the Rams fall to 4-5.

After the Vikings worked their way to an 8-7 lead to open the contest, Xavier Patterson would knock down a three followed by back to back buckets inside the arc from Dominik Bangu and Jax Madson for a 15-7 advantage. Suffolk though would answer, scoring 12 of the next 16 points to even things at 19.

Following the run from the Rams, Bethany would answer with a 12-3 run of their own capped off by an Elijah Johnson three pointer to take their biggest lead of the half at nine points with 6:57 to go. Suffolk would cut the deficit down to three points, but the Vikings were able to hold onto their lead and take a 43-38 advantage into the break.

Madson would knock down a three to open up the second half off a pair of great passes from Patterson and Mason Ackley, before Hunter Nielsen would finish inside a few possessions later for a 10-point lead. Bethany would extend their lead to 12 points a few minutes later before Suffolk made a 16-5 run to cut the lead to 57-56 with 12:55 to play.

Over the next few minutes the Vikings would slowly grow their lead to five at 64-59 before they really started to fire on all cylinders. They would turn their five-point cushion into a 13-point lead in just a minute and a half thanks to a pair of Nielsen free throws and three pointers from Patterson and Bangu. Suffolk would score three straight points to get it back to 10 before the Vikings would open the floodgates. Over the final 6:39 they would outscore the Rams 22-10 with a few key three pointers from Teon Thomas and 10 points from Nielsen.

Nielsen led the Vikings with 25 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double and was also named to the All-Tournament Team. Patterson, Madson, and Bangu also all posted double figures with 22, 19, and 12 points, respectively. Madson added a team-best six assists for the Vikings while all four in double digits had at least two steals.

Bethany will next be in action on Saturday, December 30^th when they host Wartburg.