MANKATO, Minn. - Trailing by 16 points at halftime, the Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team would come back to claim a lead with seven minutes to play before key baskets down the stretch would help St. Scholastica to an 87-76 victory on Saturday afternoon. With the loss the Vikings fall to 1-4 overall while the Saints move to 2-4.

Both teams got out to a roaring start offensively and it was Bethany who would scamper out to an early 17-13 lead behind seven points from Drew Sagedahl and six from Jax Madson. CSS would then find their hot streak as they would go on a 10-0 run over the next three minutes to lead 23-17. 

The Vikings would answer the Saints run with one of their own as they then notched nine straight points with a Sagedahl three capping the run to go up 26-23 just over midway through the half. The Saints would answer once again with nine straight before a Jack Brockmann putback dunk ended the run and made the score 32-29 in favor of CSS. It would be slow going the rest of the half for the Vikings though and the Saints would catch fire from the field, outscoring Bethany 21-8 over the final six minutes and leading 53-37 at the break. 

Bethany's comeback started early in the second as they would open the frame on a 10-2 run over the first three minutes. The score would then work its way to to 57-47 where it would stay for nearly two minutes before a Sagedahl tip-in ended the drought. Both teams would then trade buckets over the next few possessions before Madson connected on two straight threes and another Sagedahl tip-in gave Bethany their first lead of the half at 63-62. 

A Sagedahl three a few minutes later broke a tie and made it 69-66 in favor of the home team, but CSS would answer with a three of their own on the other end to knot things up with five minutes to go. The Vikings would split a pair of free throws on their ensuing possession before going cold their next five possessions and the Saints would score eight in a row to lead 77-70 with two minutes to play. Sagedahl would then connect on a three from way downtown, but the Saints would knock one down late in the shot clock on the other end to go back up seven with under two minutes to play. Once again it was Sagedahl coming up big for Bethany, as the senior would pull up for another triple on the other end. Unfortunately for Bethany, after a strong 28 seconds of defense on the other end, the Saints would bank in a step back three for the dagger to go up seven with just over 30 seconds to go before icing the game with free throws to win 87-76. 

Sagedahl and Madson combined for 50 points in the contest, with the former pouring in 28 and the latter 22. Sagedahl also added a team-high nine rebounds to his 28 points while Madson added eight and three steals. 

Both teams struggled at the line in the contest, with CSS going 10-of-18 (55.6%), while the Vikings were 8-of-17 (47.1%). 

Bethany will now have some time off before they're back in action on Wednesday, December 4th for a 6 p.m. contest in Mankato against UW-La Crosse.