Box Score

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - Leading by eight points at halftime, the Royals were unable to maintain the lead, falling to the Hamline University Pipers, 72-70. Bethel had a chance to tie the score as time expired but could not take a shot before the clock read zero.

The beginning of the game was somewhat sloppy, with each team committing more turnovers than assists. Also, the Royals were able to get the Pipers top two players, Ray Brown and Carl Hipp, into foul trouble. Hipp and Brown only played a combined nine minutes in the first half, giving Bethel an opportunity to develop a big lead. However, Royal's leading scorer, Chris Vavra (Sr., Cambridge, Minn.) went down with an injury and the lead could never quite get big enough, with Bethel going up by eight at half.

Taylor Hall (So., Blaine, Minn.) played a great first half, scoring 10 points on 4-4 from the field in just nine minutes of play. Bethel held Hamline to 38% shooting from the field, obviously struggling without their top two scorers.

Coming out of halftime, the Pipers made sure to get Brown and Hipp involved, going on a 7-0 run right out of the break, with all the points scored by those two players. With momentum taken away, the Royals could never quite find a comfort zone in the second half, shooting just 36% from the field.

With 3.3 seconds remaining, Hall made a three-pointer, cutting the Piper lead to two. Coming out of a timeout, the Royals forced a turnover by Brown, gathered in by Hall. However, contact was made with a Hamline player, causing Hall to fall to the ground, losing the ball and giving the Royals their fourth loss in conference play.

It was a valiant effort in the waning minutes by Bethel, but they were not able to overcome the Pipers clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch. Hamline shot 17-for-20, making all five of their free-throws under a minute.

For the game, Hall led all scorers with 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting and Nate Robertson (Sr., Forest Lake, Minn.) contributed 12 points and seven rebounds. Brown was the Pipers leading scorer with 14 points and nine rebounds.

After the loss, Bethel drops to 5-5 (1-4) and Hamline improves to 7-4 (3-3). Next up for the Royals is a trip to the Ganglehoff Arena on the campus of Concordia University-St. Paul to face the St. Thomas Tommies. The game will be played this Wednesday, beginning at 7:45 p.m.