MENOMONIE, Wis. – Following a season opening win against UW-Eau Claire, 72-56, the Bethel University men's basketball team fell to host UW-Stout 91-80 to close out the opening weekend of play.

The Royals are back in action with a pair of non-conference games at the Robertson Center Gym on Tuesday, Nov. 20 against Crown College and Saturday, Nov. 24 versus Wisconsin-La Crosse. Tipoff times are 7:45 p.m. and 3 p.m. respectively.

UW-Stout 91, (RV) Bethel 80
A strong first half performance was not enough for Bethel as Wisconsin-Stout outscored the Royals 47-27 in the second half. The Royals picked up right where they left off with a strong shoot performance going 18-for-26 (69.2 percent) from the field in the first half. After jumping out to an early 13-5 lead, UW-Stout found their rhythm against the Bethel defense. A pair of 3-pointers and four straight free throws cut the Bethel lead down to nine at the half.

In the tale of two halves, Wisconsin-Stout found their stride in the second half while the Royals shot a mere 27.6 percent from the floor. UW-Stout took their first lead of the game following a 3-pointer at the 7:07 mark in the second half. The Royals would tie the game seconds later before being assessed a technical foul to give the Blue Devils the lead once again.

Derek Magnuson pulled Bethel within two but UW-Stout knocked down a 3-ball with the shot clock winding down to seal the led the rest of the way as the Blue Devils ended the game on an 8-2 run.

Granger Kingland led all scorers with 28 points. Magnuson tailed 18 points and Tyler Barker had 13.

(RV) Bethel 72, UW-Eau Claire 56
Four Royals posted double-figures with senior Derek Magnuson posting a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards. Bethel was lead in scoring by Granger Kingland with 17 points while Jack Jenson added 16 points and four assists.

The lead never returned to single digits after Bethel opened the game on a 14-2 run in the first five minutes of play. A strong defensive effort and a hot 56.5 shooting percentage from the field led to a 34-20 lead at half.

UW-Stout looked to chip away at the Bethel lead in the second half but the Royal offense continued to stay hot stretching its lead to 46-25. Bethel saw its largest lead of the night at 55-30 following a 3-point play opportunity for Kingland at the 11:20 mark.

Bethel did the rest of their work from the charity stripe en route to the 72-56 win. The Royals dominated the inside game outscoring UW-Eau Claire in the paint 44-16.