Box Score

Winona, Minn.—The Bethel University men's basketball team continued their winning ways Wednesday night, as they opened up MIAC play with a 69-58 win over Saint Mary's on the road in Winona. The win marked the fourth straight for first year Head Coach Doug Novak, as he has guided the Royals to an impressive mark of 4-1 thus far.
 
BU got off to a fast start, as they jumped on the Cardinals early and went into the locker room with a 37-23 halftime lead. Freshman Brycen Wojta's continued his charge, as the Maple Grove, Minn. native poured in ten first half points on 4-of-8 shooting. Kyle Zimmermann contributed eight points and six rebounds in the first half—on his way to a double-double of 14 points and 10 boards. Saint Mary's struggled from the field in the games' first 20 minutes, shooting 10-of-30 from the field and 1-of-7 from beyond the arc.
 
The host team came out of intermission hot and used a second half surge to trim the Royals lead, getting the deficit down to one at the 9:26 mark of the second half, but were never able to take the lead, as the Royals used a layup by Zimmermann and a 3-pointer from Trevor Hall to push their lead back to six. Wylie Ferron was a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe in half number two, where he scored 13 points to finish the game with 18 to pace the Cardinals, who fall to 1-4 (0-1 MIAC) after Wednesday night's loss.
 
Kyle von Schmidt-Pauli was very efficient for the Royals, as the Tartan grad went 5-of-7 from the field and knocked down a pair of treys in as many attempts, on his way to twelve points. Wojta finished the contest with 15, as the first-year point guard has reached double figures in all five games this season.
 
BU will continue MIAC play Saturday afternoon as they travel to St. Paul for a showdown with Macalester College. The Scots are 1-3 on the season and have yet to play a conference affair, as their game was postponed Wednesday night due to inclement weather. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m. inside the Leonard Center.