ST. PETER, Minn. – Defense dictated the outcome of Saturday afternoon's matinee as the Bethel men's basketball team routed Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. 68-52. Gustavus, who came into the day as the No. 1 team in the MIAC, only managed to complete 38 percent of its shots from the floor. With today's victory the Royals not only sabotaged the Gusties hope of finishing the regular season as outright conference champions, but also helped BU secure a playoff spot. The victory also gave BU a season-sweep over GAC, as Bethel had defeated the Gusties earlier this season 75-71. In fact, the Royals finished the season 3-1 over the teams tied for first in the conference and handed Gustavus its only two losses in its last 14 contests.
The two squads opened the Saturday afternoon affair deadlocked throughout the opening ten minutes, until BU started to pull away down the stretch of the opening period.
Greg Meyer (Jr., Brooklyn Center, Minn.) and
JD Robinson (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.) both hit jumpers to take a one-point BU lead to seven, however, the home team kept its fate alive when narrowing the margin to one before the end of the period.
Kyle Zimmerman (So., Champlin, Minn.) led Bethel with six points and three rebounds, but each player made a significant contribution to the first-half success. That said, five players scored four or more points and as a team, BU shot 48.3 percent in the 20-minute portion. The MIAC leading scorer Seth Anderson, of Gustavus, managed 12 points in the opening period.
The Royals never surrendered its lead in the second half, but rather stretched it immediately to nine in the first ten minutes. A slow pressure forced several Gustie turnovers, which led to an 11-2 BU advantage in points off turnovers. Bethel didn't stop in the final minutes; instead the Royals heightened its lead to 18 before the end of the game.
Points in the paint were another contributor to the Royals success in the second half, outscoring its opponents 14-2. A large piece of this puzzle can be credited to
Taylor Hall (Jr., Blaine, Minn.), who finished the period shooting 6-of-11 for 16 points.
Daniel Baah (Sr., Farmington, Minn.) also played a large role, scoring 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting. Hall and Baah's performance helped Bethel shoot 54 percent from the floor, which shaped the 50 percent shooting in the game.
Hall finished the entire contest with 20 points and eight rebounds, while Baah finished with 16. Zimmerman recorded eight points and nine rebounds and
Kellan Dahlquist (Sr., St. Cloud, Minn.) added eight points and six rebounds.
Coming into this afternoon's dual Gustavus had a one-game advantage on St. Thomas, while Bethel, Saint John's, and Hamline were all tied for the fifth and sixth seed. Because of the tiebreakers Gustavus now shares the conference championship with UST, but falls to the No. 2 seed in the tournament. Meanwhile, because the Johnnies held the 3-1 advantage over the two other teams tied SJU was awarded the five seed and the Royals with a 2-2 record the sixth. Hamline had only mustered a 1-3 record against SJU and BU in the regular season.
As the six seed Bethel will travel to Northfield Wednesday evening to face St. Olaf College in a 7:30 affair. In the two previous matchups this season the Ole's handed BU a 69-57 and 74-57 loss, yet it is important to note that the Royals have won nine of its last 12 games down the stretch. Bethel University finished the regular season with a 15-10 record overall, with a conference mark of 11-9.
