ST. PAUL, Minn. — Emmanuel Schmitter earned a double-double scoring 15 points and grabbing 15 rebounds to help the Royals to a 79-72 win over Macalester College Thursday night in non-conference action.
Schmitter finished 5-of-10 from the field and 3-of-7 from beyond the arc.
Adam Mattes lead the Royals with 19 points shooting 8-for-14 from the field,
Payton Thomsen dropped 18 points and added 6 assists in the win.
Adam Mattes got the Royals rolling early, opening the first half with a 3-pointer to grab the first lead of the game. Later in the first half, Thomsen nailed a three-point attempt of his own to give Bethel an 11-9 lead.
With the game tied at 14, Schmitter nailed back-to-back shots from beyond-the-arc opening up a four-point Bethel advantage. Halfway through the first half
AJ Kaul drove the lane finding the basket and putting the Royals up 26-18. From there Bethel took a 32-26 lead into halftime.
The Scots cut the Royals lead to just two early in the second half, when Schmitter came up with a layup followed by a 3-pointer to put Bethel ahead 39-32.
With 13:32 left in the second half
Nick Burke nailed one from beyond the arc to extend the Royals lead to nine.
Nick Burke hit another three giving the Royals their largest lead of the night at 53-41.
Holding a 75-72 lead with 33 seconds to play, Thomsen went to the charity stripe nailing both free throw attempts to ice the game for the Royals.
The win improves the Royals to 3-1 on the year. They continue their three-game road trip Saturday against the Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.
