MANKATO, Minn. - The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team dropped their regular season finale to North Central 86-72 on Saturday afternoon. With the loss the Vikings fall to 12-13 overall and 9-5 in the UMAC while the Rams finish the regular season 16-9 overall and 10-4 in the conference. The Vikings will head into the UMAC Tournament as the No. 4 seed while NCU will serve as the No. 1 seed.
It was a fast start for NCU, who showed up strong on both ends of the floor and took an early 10-0 lead three minutes in.
DJ Akpati would break the drought with a layup before another finish inside from the senior a few minutes later capped off a 7-0 run to make it 10-7. NCU would slowly work their way back to an 18-13 edge before Bethany would tie things up at 20-20.
Over the final eight minutes of the half, Remy Wedgeworth-Brown of the Rams would start to leave his mark on the game, as he scored five straight to propel the team on a 13-3 run. Leading by 10 with two minutes left, the Vikings would fight back late and it was a
Jax Madson three pointer with time expiring to cut the deficit to 35-31 at the break.
Bethany would continue to cut at the deficit early in the second, but Wedgeworth-Brown continued to answer. With NCU leading 47-42, the Vikings would cut into the lead and it was an Akpati three with 13:36 to go that put them ahead 55-54.
The Vikings offense would hit a standstill though and the Rams would score the next 11 points as they would take a 65-55 lead with just under 10 minutes to go. Bethany would continue to claw at the lead but turnovers were costly, as North Central would push keep lead back to nine at 75-66 with 4:50 to play. Bethany would get it to seven with a pair of free throws but that was as close as they would get as the Rams would close things out late to claim a share of the UMAC Championship with the win.
Akpati had 20 points and four assists in the loss, while
Jack Brockmann added 14 and eight rebounds.
The Vikings will have a rematch with the Rams on Wednesday, as they will head to Minneapolis to take on NCU in a UMAC semifinal game at 7 p.m.
