ST. PAUL, Minn. – Fresh off a buzzer beating win last Tuesday, the Bethel University men's basketball team found themselves in a similar position but this time with a different result. Hamline hit a fade away 17-footer as time expired handing the Royals a 64-62 loss Wednesday evening at Hutton Arena.
Knotted at 62, BU got a stop on defense with a Pipers' missed 3-pointer and getting the ball back with 22.7 left. Out of a timeout, the Royals couldn't get a shot off as the ball was knocked away and a held ball situation gave it back to Hamline with four seconds left.
Off the sideline inbound play and box set, Hamline's Bradley Cimperman took the inbound pass going one-on-one spinning and fading away for the game-winner. Cimperman finished with 25 points.
The Royals shot 41.4 percent from the floor and were 31.6 percent from 3-point range while Hamline finished 39.7 percent and 27.6 percent from behind the arc.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
• A 10-0 run just over midway through the first half for Bethel helped them get out to a 16-9 lead in the opening half.
• A couple of threes form the Pipers with just under five minutes to go put Bethel's lead at one.
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Zach Doely hit double figures in the scoring column as his first-half buzzer beating put back gave the Royals a 30-25 lead at the break.
Second Half
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Payton Thomsen, who had 15 first-half points, gave the Royals their largest lead of the night at 39-30 as he connected from long distance with 15:40 to go.
• Hamline held its first lead since the opening minutes of the first at 52-49 with 7:56 to go as Bethel was held to one field goal over a four-minute and 30 second stretch.
• It was a two-possession game with 2:30 to go until buckets from
Adam Mattes and and Doely tied it up. Bethel's defense held the Pipers to no field goals in that stretch until the game's final bucket.
KEY PERFORMERS
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Payton Thomsen finished with a game-high 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting with four threes and eight rebounds.
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Zach Doely had his second straight double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
UP NEXT
With the three-game road stand in the books, Bethel returns to the Robertson Center where they open a four-game home stretch against Concordia Saturday, Dec. 2 at 3 p.m.
