ST. PAUL, Minn. – Behind a career-high 27 points from senior guard Matt Ambriz, the Bethel University men's basketball team picked up a road victory at Macalester Saturday afternoon 77-58.

Shooting 40.7 percent (11-of-27) from 3-point range and 91.7 percent (22-of-24) from the charity stripe the Royals reach the .500 mark at 4-4 overall and 2-2 in conference play. Bethel returns home to the Robertson Center where they will host Carleton College on Saturday with a 1 p.m. tip off time.

Junior guard Granger Kingland chipped in 21 points and eight rebounds while Derek Magnuson and Jack Jenson added 13 and 10 points respectively. Senior guard Tyler Barker registered a game-high eight assists.

A steal by Jenson turned into a 3-ball from Kingland on the other end with 15:22 remaining in the game as the Royals took a 44-41 lead and never looked back from there. The long range shooting continued for the Royals as Ambriz knocked down a three with 9:54 left to give Bethel a double digit lead.

The Scots continued to fight back pulling within three after a fast break dunk from Wyatt Ferm with just over eight minutes to play.

The Royals displayed their poise as Jenson knocked down a trey before Kingland connected on a 3-point play the next position to give the Royals their largest lead of the game to that point at 61-50.

Bethel did their rest of the work from the free throw line knocking down eight straight free throws in the final two minutes.

From the tip it was a back-and-forth affair between the Royals and Scots. The teams traded off 3-pointers for a two minute stretch where Ambriz knocked down two of the Royals three long balls. With a one point lead and under two minutes to play in the first half, Kingland came up with a steal before going the other way to connect on a layup before knocking down a free throw to connect on the 3-point play. Macalester responded on the other end with back-to-back 3-pointers sending the Royals into the locker room trailing 35-33.

The first half saw eight lead changes and 10 ties as the Royals shot 34.6 percent (9-for-26) from the field to Macalester's 58.3 percent (14-of-24).