MANKATO, Minn. – The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team continued its historic season on Sunday, capturing the UMAC Tournament Championship with a 93-75 win over UW-Superior and earning the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. With the win the Vikings move to 23-4, and will have their first-round matchup and location announced during the NCAA selection show on Monday at noon.
Both teams came out of the gates strong in this one, each scoring 15 points in the first five minutes of play, with Drew Sagedahl heating up early for the Vikings with eight early points. The teams continued to go punch for punch until Aleck Sharma and Sagedahl hit back-to-back triples to put Bethany up 27-21 with 10 minutes to play in the half. The Yellowjackets would cut the deficit to two and keep Bethany within striking distance, until Hunter Nielsen put down a big dunk to spark a 7-0 run headed to the break that gave Bethany a 45-36 lead after 20 minutes of play.
The Vikings doubled up on their 7-0 run to start the second half, and this one ended the same way the first started, with Hunter Nielsen hammering home another dunk to put Bethany up 52-36 with 17:52 to play. UWS would slowly whittle down the lead, eventually going on a 13-4 run during a four-minute stretch cut the deficit to six points with 10:45 left.
Bethany would build the lead up to nine points with 7:45 before Aleck Sharma capped off what was an already spectacular day. After going a perfect 3-of-3 in the first half for eight points with two three pointers, the senior would check in and immediately hit a triple to push Bethany's lead to 12 points. After the Yellowjackets would cut the deficit back to seven Sharma would hit another three, before Madson launched from way downtown on the ensuing possession and connected to put Bethany back up 13 with 5:28 to play.
The Yellowjackets would hit a three with 4:55 left to bring the lead back to 10, but Bethany started a run of scoring on six straight possessions while getting stops on five straight defensively, as they pushed their lead to 22 points with 2:14 left and sealed the win.
Six Vikings finished in double figures in this one with Sagedahl leading the way with 18. Sharma and Riley Ashburn both came off the bench and scored 14, with Sharma going 5-of-5 from the field and 4-of-4 from three, while Ashburn was 6-of-6 from the field. Jax Madson also added 14 points for Bethany, while Xavier Patterson and Nielsen each had 10. Mason Ackley, the only Viking starter not in double figures contributed in a huge way, with a team-high six assists and career high 14 rebounds.
