ARDEN HILLS, Minn.—The Bethel University men's basketball team won its 15th consecutive home game Monday night, as the Royals (10-2, 5-2 MIAC) defeated Saint Mary's University 79-70. BU outscored the Cardinals (4-7, 2-5 MIAC) 38-31 in the final 20 minutes of play, which propelled them to their seventh straight win over SMU.
 
The Royals utilized a 20-5 run midway through the first half to build a 22-11 lead at the 11-minute mark. The Cardinals clawed there way back late in the frame, but Brycen Wojta's 3-pointer with 19 seconds left in the first gave Bethel a 41-39 advantage just before the half.
 
BU never relinquished the lead throughout the final 20 minutes. In fact, the Royals began the second half on a 17-7 run and never looked back. SMU trimmed Bethel's lead to five with 8:13 remaining in the game, but BU slammed the door on Saint Mary's with an 8-0 run over the next 1:52.
 
The Royals dominated the Cardinals in several facets, including points off turnovers (28-13), bench points (25-14), and points in the paint (42-34).
 
Bridgeport Tusler's 16 points first-half points were critical to Bethel's success. Tusler started 4-of-4 from downtown and finished the frame 6-of-9 from the floor. Tusler ended the night with 19 points, three rebounds, and three steals in 29 minutes played.
 
Three others scored in double figures for BU, including Kyle von_Schmidt-Pauli, Brycen Wojta, and Tim Hanson. "VSP" added four rebounds and four assists to his stat line, while Wojta posted six assists, five boards, and two steals. Hanson collected five rebounds in his 21 minutes played.
 
SMU's Will Swiggum led all players with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting and seven rebounds.
 
Bethel puts its 15-game winning streak on the line Wednesday night at 7 p.m., when they host Augsburg College in an MIAC showdown. The Auggies enter the midweek matchup with an 8-4 record on the season, including a 3-4 mark against conference opponents.