ARDEN HILLS, Minn.—Bethel University's men's basketball team dropped just its third home game of the season Saturday, as the University of St. Thomas handed BU a 59-75 loss in the second-to-last home game. The Royals (15-8, 10-8 MIAC) trailed by 16 at the half, but trimmed the Tommie (21-2, 16-2 MIAC) lead to six points with 8:54 remaining in the game. UST rattled off 13-2 run following a timeout, though, and created more than enough separation to finish with a 16-point victory.

BU grabbed 17 offensive rebounds throughout the entire 40 minutes of play, compared to UST's eight. The Royals also outscored St. Thomas 16-5 in points off of turnovers, but Bethel shot just 32.8 percent from the floor throughout the contest, while the Tommies finished the day shooting 57.1 percent.

Brycen Wojta scored a team-high 16 points, alongside three steals and three assists. Trevor Hall and Tim Hanson each poured in 11 points and Kyle von_Schmidt-Pauli added nine. Hall hauled own six boards and swatted two shots, while Hanson tallied five rebounds.

The Tommies' Cortez Tillman led all players in scoring with 18 second-half points. Tillman was 6-of-7 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the free throw line until the final 30 seconds of play.

Bethel is now in a win-or-go home situation Wednesday evening when they play host to Carleton College. The two teams are tied with Augsburg for fifth in the conference standings with a record of 10-8 in MIAC play, but Augsburg has a 4-0 combined record against the Knights and Royals. That makes the midweek matchup critical for both teams. BU will celebrate senior night prior to the 7 p.m. tipoff.