COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The Bethel University men's basketball team could not hold off No. 2 seeded and nationally ranked Saint John's Thursday evening inside Sexton Arena. The host Johnnies used an explosive first half to defeat the Royals in the MIAC Playoff semifinals 82-49.

The Royals saw their program-best 11 game winning streak versus four-year schools come to an end as they close out the 2018-19 campaign with a 19-8 overall record.

Junior Granger Kingland led the Royals in scoring with 13 points and six rebounds. Junior Jack Jenson added 11 points while senior Matt Ambriz scored 10 points in his final game as a Royal. Senior big man Derek Magnuson finished with seven points ending his Bethel career with 1,341 points good enough for 14th on the Royals all-time scoring list. Senior Conrad Engstrom led the scoring off the bench with seven points going a perfect 2-for-2 from 3-point range.

The Royals found themselves down early with Saint John's opening up the game on a 14-4 run through the opening five and a half minutes. Everything seemed to fall for SJU while if felt as if a lid was on top of the Bethel basket. A pair of layups by Jenson pulled the Royals within 15 points on two separate occasions but five 3-pointers from the Johnnies in the opening half led them to outscore BU 37-18 in the opening 20 minutes.

Bethel tried to find an answer in the second as Kingland knocked down back-to-back threes in the first two minutes. Saint John's responded right back with an 8-0 run to open its lead up to 51-24 with 16:03 left to go. Inside, Magnuson laid it off the glass to end the Royals 3:05 scoring drought to give its closest margin in the second half at 51-26. The Johnnies did not cool off in the second shooting 55.2 percent (16-of-29) from the field to advance to the MIAC championship with the 82-49 victory.