ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – Freshman guard Payton Thomsen dropped a career-high 31 points in the Bethel University men's basketball 88-65 loss to Macalester. Thomsen shot 12-fo-16 in 33 minutes of action producing 28 of his points in the opening 20 minutes.
 
The Royals, who started three freshmen, finished 44.8 percent from the floor while the Scots had their best performance of the year at 48.4 percent. Bethel was held in check behind the arc at 23.5 percent while the Scots knocked down 14 treys in route to a 42.4 percent clip.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
• Thomsen tallied 16 of Bethel's first 18 points.
• The Royals held the lead for over 12 minutes with a margin as large of 11.
• A six-minute scoring drought turned the tides as Macalester took a lead of 29-28 with 7:22 remaining.
• Thomsen broke that drought with a three pulling BU back within a possession.
• The Scots responded with three straight treys before sending the Royals into the locker room down 48-38.

Second Half
• It felt as if a lid was on the bucket as the Royals went without a score between Joey Kidder's layup at the 16:34 mark and three ball from Avery Mast with 13:24.
• Mast found the bottom of the net on the next possession with a pull up jumper.
• Bethel got no closer than 16 as the Scots held them to 1-of-9 from behind the arc in the second.
 
KEY PERFORMERS
• Thomsen added six boards, two steals and was 4-of-5 from the charity stripe.
• Zach Doely added 19 points and five boards.
• In his first game back, junior Joey Kidder added four points, five rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes of action.
 
UP NEXT
The Royals are back on the hardwood Friday, Dec. 16 traveling to Crown for a 7 p.m. tipoff. Read Full Article