ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – A strong second half offensively led the Bethel University men's basketball team to a season opening win at Crown College Saturday evening, 100-82. 

It's the fifth time under seventh-year head coach Doug Novak that the Royals begin the season over .500. The Royals open the home portion of its schedule Tuesday night against the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Tip off is set for 7:45 p.m. inside the Robertson Center.

Five different Royals reached double figures in the scoring column while BU shot 58.5 percent from the field (38-of-65) and 60 percent from 3-point range (12-of-20). Senior Granger Kingland led the way with a team-high 23 points to go along with seven rebounds. Senior Jack Jenson poured in a 20-point effort with six assists while Isaiah Carver-Bagley chipped in 15 points.

Connecting on his third 3-pointer of the night, Noah Whalen gave Bethel its first double digit lead with 13:07 left in the second at 63-51. The Royals were able to get to the rim with a pair of driving layups from Jenson capped off with a Kingland three opening up the spread to 16 points. The Storm got back within 75-63 but the Royals continued to get to the lane and the charity stripe hitting the century mark in the process.

The Royals only trailed twice in the non-conference matchup and that came at 2-0 with Crown scoring on a second chance opportunity in its opening possession and again at 4-3. Jamal Davis knocked down his first three in a Royal uniform followed by a three from Kingland giving Bethel the lead the remainder of the way. A fairly even first half sent Bethel into the locker room with a 42-36 lead.