ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – What started out as a back-and-forth affair ended with the Bethel University men's basketball team on top thanks to strong second half shooting that led the Royals to a 72-63 win over Macalester inside the Robertson Center.

Bethel remained perfect in Saturday MIAC contests while extending their winning streak to four games, which is the second longest current winning streak in the league.  The Royals improve to 12-7 on the year and 9-5 in conference play. BU looks to avenge a conference opening loss to Saint John's on Wednesday when they host the Johnnies in a pivotal MIAC matchup. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. inside the Robertson Center.

Junior guard Granger Kingland picked up from where he left off after his 19 point performance Wednesday night. The Lake Mills, Iowa native scored 27 points to lead all scorers and grabbed a game-high 13 boards, 10 of which came on the defensive end. Seniors Jack Jenson and Derek Magnuson scored 12 points and 10 points respectively while MIAC's leading assister in Jack Jenson recorded seven assists.

Just like the teams pervious meeting back on December 8, Saturday's contest saw multiple lead changes, 16 to be exact, and seven ties.

Kingland set the tone for the game with a 3-pointer on the Royals opening possession as BU jumped out to a 5-0 lead with a layup from Jenson. Macalester rattled off the next eight as the scoring runs foreshadowed a back-and-forth first half that saw neither team lead by more than seven.

Neither team gained an advantage from the first 20 minutes with the teams in the locker all knotted up at 38.  The two conference foes stayed within two points of each other before being tied at 51-51 with 10:14 remaining in the game. From there Bethel went on an 8-0 run over the next 4:15 to notch its largest lead of the game to that point.

Macalester went on a near two minute field goal drought down the stretch as Chandler Wellman and Hudson Urbanus knocked down 3-pointers to open the BU lead. The Royals sealed the win on strong guard play from Barker who picked up a steal on the defensive in before dishing it to Kingland who hit from behind the arc with 1:37 left. Kingland went to the charity stripe 40 seconds later to knock down a pair of clutch free throws that moved the Royal lead to double digits in the final minute of play.