Box Score CHICAGO, Ill. - The Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team Friday afternoon took on No. 9 Illinois Wesleyan in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament and fell to the Titans by a score of 101-67. With the loss the Vikings conclude their season at 14-14 while the Titans move onto round two of the tournament with a 23-5 record. 

Both teams would get a few field goals in the first few minutes before IWU would work their way on an 11-0 run thanks to three long range connections as they claimed the early 18-5 lead.

Bethany would fight their way back in over the next four minutes, as they would answer the Titans with an 11-2 run with Drew Sagedahl pitching in five in the stretch to cut the deficit to 20-16. 

The game of runs continued, and it was once again the Titans that started to pull away as they would score 11 of the next 12 to go up 31-17. They would keep up their run, as they would push it to a 44-24 advantage with 2:40 to go before the Vikings started to fight their way back in. Dominik Bangu would score four points in the final two minutes as Bethany outscored the Titans 8-0 to cut the deficit down to 44-32 at the break. 

Bangu had nine points in the first half to go along with four rebounds while Sagedahl and DJ Akpati eached scored eight points. 

After Illinois Wesleyan opened the second half with four straight, the Vikings would work their way back to bring the deficit back to 12 thanks in part to a three from Bangu. IWU would answer though, as they would score 10 of the next 12 to push their advantage to 59-39 and take a 20-point lead with 15:51 to play. 

An Akpati three with 14:02 to play would bring the deficit back down to 17, but the Titans would mount a 14-2 run over the next four minutes as they led 75-46 with just under 10 minutes to play. That surge all but sealed the game as the Vikings couldn't fight their way back in and IWU would move on to the round of 32 with a 101-67 win. 

All five Bethany starters were in double figures in the contest with Jax Madson leading the way with 17. Akpati added 13 while Bangu and Jack Brockmann added 12 and Sagedahl chipped in 10.