ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Bethel University men's basketball team picked up its fifth straight win defeating Berea 95-86 Wednesday evening in Florida.
The season-high 95 points came with a season-best 66 percent shooting mark from the field. BU got off to another hot start from three knocking down seven of its nine treys in the opening half. They finished 56.3 percent behind the arc.
Defensively they held Berea to 40.6 percent shooting and a 22.2 percent (6-of-27) mark behind the arc. The Mountaineers shot an even 80 percent from the line going 24-of-30.
Zach Doely led the Royals in the scoring column with 21 points and adding five rebounds.
Payton Thomsen knocked down three treys as part of his 17 points while
Adam Mattes added 13 points.
Emmanuel Schmitter off the bench had 12 points and seven rebounds in 16 minutes of action.
A 9-0 run by Berea turned BU's early six-point lead into a three-point deficit. But the Royals only trailed for 1:47 and took the lead the rest of the way. An 11-0 run by the Royals helped build their largest lead of the first half at 37-24 with 5:27 to go. With three starters already in double figures at the break, BU held a 49-43 lead.
It stayed between a one and two possession game until 7:42 left where
Caden Boettcher knocked down a trey putting the Royals up 78-68. The lead grew as large as 16 thanks to a
Joey Kidder putback that made it 90-74 with 1:55 to go. The Royals bench contributed 21 of the 46 points in the second half.
UP NEXT
The Royals, now 6-4 on the year, head into the Christmas break and return to the hardwood on Wednesday, Jan. 3 at St. Scholastica with a 3 p.m. tip off.
