ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – It's tough to beat a team three times in a season, but behind a 71 percent shooting effort in the second the Bethel University men's basketball team did just that. The No. 7-seeded Royals shot 55.6 percent, their third best mark of the season, in an 82-63 victory over No. 10-seeded Concordia in the opening round of the MIAC Playoffs Saturday afternoon in the Robertson Center.
Bethel moves into the quarterfinals where they travel to No. 2 seed Augsburg on Tuesday, Feb. 22. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:45 p.m.
Junior guard
Tommy Jensen led the charge in the second half where 18 of his career-high 22 points came.
Zach Doely fell a rebound shy of the double-double with nine boards and 19 points.
Dom Aguilar, who went 3-for-6 behind the arc, finished with 11 points.
Joey Kidder tallied an even stat line of six points, eight rebounds, eight assists and two steals.
The Royals expanded on their 32-26 halftime lead scoring on its first four possessions of the second half. Jensen hit back-to-back threes moving BU's advantage into double digits for the remainder of the game.
Bethel worked in into the paint where 30 of its 50 second half points came. A fast break layup from
Solomon Whalen with 10:26 left put Bethel's lead into 20-plus.
Sam Nelson knocked down one of BU's six second-half threes with 3:51 left giving the Royals their largest lead of the night at 80-53.
The Royals opened the game on a 15-2 run before Concordia came right back pulling within 28-26 with 2:15 left in the half. BU's defense went into lock down mode forcing the Cobbers to go without a bucket the rest of half as the Royals took a six-point lead into the break.
