WINONA, Minn. – With the shot clock expiring Jaren Tschetter hit a big time three from the top of the key with 7:28 remaining putting the Bethel University men's basketball team up six over Saint Mary's. From there the Royals distanced themselves from the Cardinals out scoring SMU 45-29 in the second half in route to a 70-58 victory.
 
Tschetter poured in 16 points while dominating the rebound game with a career-high 15, the most by a BU individual player since Dec. 6, 2017 when Granger Kingland had 16 against St. Thomas.  In his fourth double-double of the year, Zach Doely scored a team-leading 21 points to go along with 11 rebounds.
 
Tommy Jensen and Joey Kidder rounded out the top scores with 14 and 12 points respectively.
 
After scoring only two points in the first half, Doely came out of the locker room with the hot hand tallying 12 of BU's first 15 points taking a five-point lead. While the Cardinals erased that lead twice and eventually took a one-point lead with 9:52 left, Bethel's defense rose to the occasion from that point on.
 
SMU went the next 4:08 without finding the bottom of the net until hitting both free throws on a two-shot foul.
 
In the meantime, Bethel went on a 13-2 run opening its lead to double digits with 4:29 left. Doely recorded his fourth 20-plus point performance of the year with a shot in the lane giving BU its largest lead of the night at 52-64.
 
A closely contested first half for most of the way saw SMU close on an 11-2 run. Bethel went into the locker room trailing 29-25, which would be its largest deficit of the afternoon.
 
Bethel heads into the Christmas break 6-3 on the year and 3-2 in MIAC play. The Royals return to the hardwood on Thursday, Dec. 30 traveling to currently ranked No. 13 Wisconsin-La Crosse.