ASHLAND, Wis. - The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team Saturday posted their best defensive effort of the season, holding Northland to just 50 points in a 72-50 victory. With the win the Vikings improve to 10-11 overall and 7-3 in the UMAC while the Jacks fall to 0-21 overall and 0-10 in conference play. 

It was a fast start for Jack Brockmann in this one, as the freshmen would score eight early points to put the Vikings up 10-4 just five minutes into the contest. Bethany would continue to extend their lead and it was a Jax Madson three with 7:24 remaining in the first half that would cap off a 8-2 run and put them up 26-12. 

Northland would respond late in the half though, going on a 12-5 run over the next four minutes to bring the deficit down to just seven at 31-24 with 3:26 in the half. Both defenses locked in from there though, as the only basket in the final three-plus minutes was a Teon Thomas three that made it 34-24 at the break. 

Thomas opened the second half scoring after closing the first for Bethany as he would bury a three, but seven straight from the home team brought the lead down to six at 37-31. The Vikings would answer with eight in a row capped off by a Madson three, but once again Northland responded by quickly trimming things back to nine with 14:22 to play. 

That nine-point deficit was as close as the LumberJacks would get the rest of the way though, as Bethany would start to pull away in the middle portion of the second half. Leading by 10 with 10:51 to go, the Vikings wouldn't allow a Northland field goal for over eight minutes of game time as they would run away with it late to take it 72-50. 

Madson led Bethany in the contest with 16 points to go along with five rebounds, four assists, and four steals. Thomas added 15 points and nine boards for the Vikings while Brockmann had 14 points, eight rebounds, and four blocks. 

The Vikings will next be in action on Wednesday when they host Northwestern in a 5:30 p.m. contest.