MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball teams saw all five starters score in double figures on Saturday afternoon as they picked up a 104-92 win over North Central for their fourth straight victory. With the win the Vikings improve to 7-10 overall and 4-2 in the UMAC while the Rams fall to 9-8 overall and 3-3 in the conference. 

Though the game picked up in pace, this one didn't get out to an overly quick start as the two teams would play to a score of 6-6 in the first 3:45. NCU would score the game's next five points, but Drew Sagedahl and Dominik Bangu would each answer with buckets to re-tie the game at 11. Over the next seven minutes, neither team would claim more than a four-point cushion and the game would play to a 31-28 score in favor of the Rams with 7:30 to go. 

Trailing by three, a Jack Brockmann tip-in would send Bethany on their biggest run of the first half as they would put up the next nine points to gain a 37-31 lead. The Vikings continued to see success on the offensive end over the last five minutes as they went 4-of-7 from the field and 10-of-12 from the line to outscore NCU 19-13 and would lead 56-44 at the half. 

The Rams would knock down a three to open the second half and bring the deficit back to single digits but a 7-1 run from Bethany would extend the lead back to 15. The Vikings held them at bay over the next 10 minutes, keeping their lead at double digits with the 15-point lead still in tact with 8:12 to go. NCU would finally start to cut into Bethany's lead, as they would outscore the Vikings 8-0 over the next three minutes and bring the deficit down to seven at 89-82 with 5:15 to go. 

Sagedahl would finally end the dry spell for Bethany as he would find the bottom of the net with a basket before two free throws from Jax Madson pushed it back to 11. NCU would work the deficit back down to seven points with two minutes to play, but a huge offensive rebound tip-in from Brockmann would help prevent a late run and the Vikings would connect on their free throws late to seal the win. 

Bangu, Sagedahl, and Madson all scored 20 points in the contest with Bangu also notching a double double with 11 rebounds. DJ Akpati and Brockmann also both eclipsed double digits scoring 17 and 16 points, respectively, with Brockmann going an efficient 8-of-10 from the field. 

After having not made more than 20 free throws in a single contest since Jan. 20th, 2023, the Vikings would connect on 30-of-38 shots from the charity stripe in this one, the most makes in a contest since November 15th, 2016 when they made 31 at Carleton. 

Bethany will be back in action on Wednesday when they host Minnesota Morris for a 5:30 p.m. contest.