NORTHFIELD, Minn. - Bethel University proved that winning nine of 12 regular season games down the stretch was not a fluke Wednesday evening, as the Royals captured a 77-58 upset victory over the No. 3-seeded Ole's of St. Olaf College at the Skoglund Center. BU composed a defensive masterpiece, holding the home team to 32 percent shooting, and cashed in on 48 percent of its own shots. One tangible way the Royals defense limited St. Olaf can be centered on Ole Bobby Fong, who is a 1,000-point scorer and who also dropped 34 points in the last meeting between these two teams. In tonight's contest Fong shot 1-for-12 from the floor and delivered five free throws to finish the game with eight points.
The Royal's began its dominance early, which led to a 31-20 advantage going into the half. Seven offensive rebounds led to a series of BU runs, including a 20-4 escapade that propelled Bethel to a 24-9 lead with five minutes left in the first period. St. Olaf was able to cinch the margin to 11 to end the period on the wings of its own 11-7 finish. Kyle Zimmerman (So., Champlin, Minn.) was electric throughout the entire game, however, his play in the first half, both off the glass and from the floor, allowed the sophomore out of Champlin, Minn. to finish with 15 points and five rebounds.
Bethel went straight to work in the second, however, and left no room for doubt after the ending to the first half. After six minutes of play the Royals took an eight-point lead to 16 in the matter of a minute and a half, to lead 45-29 at the 13-minute mark. BU continued to stifle the Ole's from long range and despite St. Olaf cutting the lead to 14 with nine minutes on the clock, Bethel was resilient and collected another run – this time a 16-2 streak.
Greg Meyer (Jr., Blaine, Minn.) was a dark horse coming into tonight's dual, averaging five points per game, but Meyer delivered numerous baseline drives and critical jumpers from the outside that fueled a 17-point effort.
After shooting 37.5 percent from the floor in the first half, the Royals looked simply unstoppable in the second firing 60 percent, yet only made 1-of-6 three-pointers. St. Olaf attempted to stay in the game throughout the second frame with its play from the charity stripe, bucketing 17-of-21 free-throw attempts, but BU was too much and ended the Ole's season with a 77-58 victory. The Royals held St. Olaf to 11.8 percent shooting Wednesday night from downtown, as the Northfield, Minn. team could only cash in on 2-of-17 shot attempts.
Four players scored in double digits for Bethel in the MIAC quarterfinal matchup. Meyer led BU with 17 and two rebounds, while
Daniel Baah (Sr., Farmington, Minn.) was right on his heels with 16 points and five boards. Zimmerman added 15 and five, and
Taylor Hall (Jr., Blaine, Minn.) finished the double-figures quartet with the only double-double of the night – 13 points, 10 rebounds, three assists.
Kellan Dahlquist's (Sr., St. Cloud, Minn.) play around the rim was brilliant as well, finishing with five points and 10 rebounds.
With the win Bethel moves on to face the University of St. Thomas Friday, February 24
th in St. Paul, Minn. at the McCarthy Gymnasium. These teams know each other well, as the pair met last week in the final week of regular season play when the Tommies defeated the Royals 69-55. Earlier in the year, however, BU captured a 69-68 victory over UST in St. Paul. For more information about the MIAC playoffs, check out the
MIAC Tournament Page.
