ST. PAUL, Minn. – For the first time in program history the Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team has won back-to-back UMAC regular season titles, clinching the feat with a 77-70 win over Northwestern Friday night. With the win the Vikings move 19-3 overall and 11-0 in the UMAC while the Eagles fall to 13-9 overall and 5-6 in the conference.



Looking for their first win at the Ericksen Center since Jan. 12, 2013, the Vikings would have their work cut out for them as early as the Eagles would come out scorching in the first few minutes for an 11-6 lead. The home team wouldn't stop there though as the shots just kept falling and they claimed a 19-11 lead just over five minutes into play.

The Eagles would push their lead to 26-16 with 10 minutes to go in the half before the Vikings started to chip away, with a Teon Thomas three pointer starting the run. A Justin Schrupp three pointer a few minutes later followed by a drawn charge on the other end helped spur a 11-3 run that was capped off by a Dominik Bangu three to bring the score to 32-30 with five minutes to go.

Over the next four minutes the Vikings would score four points while holding Northwestern scoreless, but a three with time winding down in the half from the Eagles would give them a 35-34 lead headed to the break.   

Jax Madson scored five quick points out of the halftime break before Northwestern would tie the game at 39 apiece. The teams would go back and forth and eventually find themselves in a tie at 51 with 11 minutes to play before Northwestern started their big run. They would outscore the Vikings 9-2 over the next four minutes with only a tough Thomas finish inside spelling the scoreless drought for Bethany. Thomas would be the one to break the Vikings out of the slump as well as he buried a right wing triple to cut the deficit to four with seven minutes to go.

After UNW pushed their lead back to six, Drew Sagedahl would score five points to propel Bethany on a 7-0 run as they would take their first lead in over nine minutes at 63-62 with 4:56 to go. A hook shot inside would fall for Northwestern on the other end before Sagedahl would step up again, knocking down a tough step back three to put Bethany up two with three minutes left.

Bethany would knock down a pair of free throws to go up four, but a three pointer from UNW followed by a single free throw would knot the game up at 68 with 1:41 to play.

The Vikings had the answer once again though, as Sagedahl would hook a beautiful pass into Hunter Nielsen who finished inside as Bethany retook a two-point lead with a minute and a half to go.

After another defensive stop for Bethany the ball would find the hands of Sagedahl behind the arc once again where he would be fouled while shooting a three pointer to send him to the line. He would connect on all three and after another successful defensive stop with 30 seconds to go, the Vikings would salt the game away with free throws to claim the victory.

After not scoring in the first 18-plus minutes of the contest, Sagedahl would score 18 points along with Madson to lead all scorers in the contest. Bangu also finished in double figures with 13 while Xavier Patterson added 10 and Thomas added the crucial eight points off the bench.

The Vikings will be back in action tomorrow when they will take on North Central at 4:45 p.m.