MORRIS, Minn. – The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team Friday night won their fourth straight UMAC contest 76-71 win over Minnesota Morris. With the win the Vikings improve to 12-3 overall and 4-0 in the conference while the Cougars fall to 7-7 overall and 2-2 in the UMAC.

After things started out 8-8 in this one the Vikings would score the next six points and 11 of the next 15 to lead 19-12. Morris would go on a 7-2 run to cut the deficit to two points before Bethany would answer with a big run to go up 33-21 with 5:40 left.

The Cougars locked in over the final five minutes, outscoring Bethany 12-3 to bring the Vikings lead down to 36-33 after three quarters.

After Bethany would claim a 10-point lead just three minutes into the second half, Morris would use a three to bring the deficit back to seven. The Vikings would push their lead back to 10 points and extend on that with Drew Sagedahl knocking down a three to go up 13 and Hunter Nielsen finishing inside to go up 15 with 13 minutes to go.

The Vikings would carry that 15-point lead for four more minutes before Morris would score nine straight points to bring the margin to six points. The visitors seemed to be pulling back away as they would score four straight to go up 10 with six minutes to go but the Cougars would claw back.

After a near four minute scoreless drought from Bethany that would bring Morris within four, Sagedahl would pull up in the paint and knock down a huge jump shot for the Vikings to push the lead back to six before Jax Madson got a steal and converted a free throw to make it a three possession game.

Morris would put a few more points up late but it wasn't enough as the Vikings took the 76-71 victory.

Xavier Patterson led the Vikings in the contest with 17 points, six rebounds, and six assists while Sagedahl added 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Dominik Bangu added 12 points while Mason Ackley and Jax Madson had 11 and 10 points, respectively.