Box Score MANKATO, Minn. - Drew Sagedahl scored 23 points and had a career high 17 rebounds on Wednesday night as the Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team defeated Minnesota Morris 86-72. With the win the Vikings improve to 8-10 overall and 5-2 in the UMAC while the Cougars fall to 7-11 overall and 4-3 in the conference.                            .

It was a fast start for the Cougars who got out to a 9-4 lead to open the contest thanks to six points inside following by a long distance shot. Three different Vikings would then score to answer with a 7-0 run of their own to take their first lead of the night at 11-9. The two teams would then play back-and-forth for the next five minutes until, with Bethany leading 22-20, the Cougars would score seven straight to match their biggest advantage at five. It took just three minutes for Bethany to close the gap, and it was a Jax Madson three that would equalize things at 31 apiece. Morris would go ahead to claim a 35-34 lead with time winding down in the half, but a Dominik Bangu layup with three seconds left to put Bethany up by one at the break. 

The two teams would trade blows early in the second half as Bethany would maintain their one point lead 2:30 into the half by the score of 46-45. Sagedahl would then bury a three that would help kickstart a 12-4 but the Cougars would fight their way back in just a few minutes later to bring the deficit back to four points at 61-57 thanks in part to a deep three. 

The Vikings seemed to be starting to gain some momentum midway through the half, but UMM would secure their 11th offensive board of the contest and put it home to keep the game within two possessions at 65-60 with 8:23 to go. Madson would answer the big basket on one end with a step back three on the other end and Coach Garvin would call a timeout for the Vikings with eight minutes to play. 

It was a well called timeout from Garvin, who sparked his guys in the huddle as they would go on an 11-2 run over the next two minutes with Bangu scoring nine points in the run to push him above 20 on the night. Leading 78-62 with 6:15 to play, the Vikings locked things in defensively and would cruise to victory from there, claiming the 86-72 decision.

In a game that saw Minnesota Morris corral 17 offensive rebounds, Sagedahl came up big down the stretch as he brought in seven of his game-high and career best 17 rebounds in the final 11 minutes of play. To add to his game-high in rebounds, the senior also led Bethany with 23 points on the night on an efficient 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 9-of-9 from the free throw line. Bangu also had a solid night for the Vikings as he scored 21 points while Madson added 17 points to go with six rebounds. 

Bethany will be back in action on Saturday when they host Crown for a 3 p.m. contest.