NEW ULM, MINN.—The Bethel University men's basketball team dropped an 88-83 OT road decision to Martin Luther on Saturday afternoon. 

The Royals fall to 3-6, while the Knights improve to 5-7.

Martin Luther 88, Bethel 83 OT

This tightly contested contest featured a whopping 21 tied scores and 14 lead changes. Bethel outscored Martin Luther 37-34 in the opening half behind a well-balanced attack that consisted of eight different scorers. The stretch run of regulation belonged to Bethel as Blake Schmitz's three pointer kick started a 10-0 run, and gave his team a 67-66 lead with 5:29 remaining. BU led from that point until the final buzzer courtesy of Martin Luther's Benjamin Pearson, whose layup sent the game to OT with the score 77-77.

Sam Gingras scored four of Bethel's six points in overtime to keep the score at 83-83 with 1:29 left. The Knights closed the game's scoring with 5-of-6 free throw makes within the final minute to ice an 88-83 OT victory.

Nick Burke paced Bethel with 18 points and seven rebounds, followed by 16 points from Gingras. Blake Schmitz added 14 points and five steals, while JT Schradle came off the bench with 12 points. 

Martin Luther got a game-high 33 points on 14-of-24 shooting, as well as seven rebounds from Adam Loberger. Benjamin Pearson was next with 20 points.

MLC shot. .508 (33-of-65) from the field, while BU notched a .476 (30-of-63) mark.

Bethel will travel to UW-Superior on Saturday, December 20 for a 1 p.m. game.