NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Entering Saturday in a win-and-in situation, the Bethel University men's basketball team battled to an 83-69 victory at St. Olaf Saturday, earning the No. 6 seed in the MIAC Playoffs.
Trailing 42-41 at the break, Bethel came out strong in the second half outscoring the Oles 42-27. BU shot 55.4 percent from the field while holding the Oles to 41.2 percent.
Bethel won the battle on the boards 39-30 and won the game down low with a 50-40 margin on points in the paint.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
• A back-and-forth opening half saw 10 lead changes and three ties with Bethel leading for 15:48 of it.
• The Royals never trailed by more than two the entire day which came in the opening minute with the Oles scoring on their opening possession.
• An alley-oop dunk by
Zach Doely from
Joey Kidder gave BU its largest lead of the first at 30-23 with 6:07 to go before the break.
• BU did a majority of its work at the charity stripe (10-of-13) while shooting 51.9 percent from the field.
• St. Olaf beat the horn sending the Royals into the locker room down one.
Second Half
• The Royals went on a 7-2 run over the opening four minutes taking a 48-44 advantage on the Oles.
•
Zach Doely and
Payton Thomsen took over for a combined 11 points during a four-minute stretch that got Bethel's lead to double digits at 61-50.
• St. Olaf got within 61-57 with 8:21 remaining but five minutes later a three-point play by
Joey Kidder got the lead back to double digits where it stayed the rest of the way.
• Bethel's defense held the Oles without a bucket for nearly the final three minutes as St. Olaf hit a non-deciding three at the buzzer.
KEY PERFORMERS
•
Payton Thomsen finished with a game-high 28 points adding 13 rebounds for the double-double effort.
•
Zach Doely finished with 23 points on 10-of-17 shooting adding six rebounds and five assists.
UP NEXT
Bethel now travels to Gustavus Adolphus, who earned the No. 3 seed, on Tuesday, Feb. 20 for a quarterfinal matchup that tips at 7 p.m.
