ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – Bethel University men's basketball team built a 22-point halftime lead en route to earning a bounce back win over Saint Mary's University Monday evening at the Robertson Center, 87-61.

11 different Royals found the scoring column, four of which posted double-digit figures, as the Royals shot 34-of-63 (54 percent) from the field improving to 7-5 on the year and 4-3 in the MIAC. The Royals hit the road traveling across the mighty Mississippi River Wednesday night for a key conference game against Augsburg. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

Senior guard Matt Ambriz scored 11 of his game-high 19 points in the second half to fuel the offense for Bethel. He led the way behind the arc knocking down a team-best five long balls on seven attempts. Junior guard Jack Jenson rounded out the top scoring from the starting five with 12 points and four assists.

Junior guard Hudson Urbanus registered 14 points off the bench, all of which came in the first half. Sophomore Zeke Carver-Bagley took care of business in the second half where he scored all 11 of his points. Sophomore forward Chandler Wellman paced the Royals with seven rebounds in 18 minutes of action.   

Tonight's victory also marks the 100th career win at Bethel for Head Coach Doug Novak. In his sixth season with the Royals, he accomplished this feat in just 150 games making it the quickest by any coach in program history to hit the century mark. Novak is in his 13th season overall as a head coach holds a 180-162 all-time record. 

Bethel never trailed after taking a 4-3 lead two minutes into the contest. The Royals went on a 10-2 run over the next 4:10 of play where Urbanus scored seven of his 14 points. Bethel knocked down four of its seven first half threes in the final seven minutes as they went into the locker room with a 48-26 lead on 19-of-31 (61.3 percent) shooting.

In the second half, Bethel continued to add to its lead grabbing its biggest advantage of the game 68-38 following a fast break layup from Jenson with 11:44 to play. In addition to its 39-25 advantage in bench scoring, the Royals turned 17 Saint Mary's turnovers into 20 points on the offensive end.

Nicolas Seaton led Saint Mary's (6-7, 2-6 MIAC) with 18 points while Eli Cave connected for 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds.