ARDEN HILLS, MINN.—The Bethel University men's basketball team got a career-high 37 points from Blake Schmitz, but a three-pointer at the final buzzer from Minnesota-Morris's Truman DeGrange propelled them to an 84-81 victory over the Royals.
Bethel falls to 1-1, while Minnesota Morris improves to 1-1.
Minnesota Morris 84, Bethel 81
The first half saw Bethel in the driver's seat from start-to-finish before all three of the game's lead changes occurred in the second half. The Royals led 43-38 at halftime before Morris grabbed their first lead of the contest with 17:24 left off Kaden Pieper's layup that made the score 45-43. They widened that cushion to 10 points off Pieper's layup with 9:24 remaining in the contest, which made the score 61-51.Â
Blake Schmitz scored 15 points within the final 6:00 of the contest for the Royals, which included a dunk that put them back in front 77-75 with 1:59 left in the contest. However, that was the final time Bethel led as the Cougars tied the game 77-77 seven seconds later off Carvin Fish's layup, and regained the lead at 79-77 off Pieper's dunk with 1:23 on the clock.Â
The Royals knotted the game twice more, which included Schmitz's jumper with 00:21 left that made the score 81-81. The Cougars prevailed on their final possession courtesy of DeGrange's three-pointer at the final buzzer that secured them an 84-81 victory over the Royals.
Schmitz also finished with eight rebounds, three steals, and one block. Jack Charbonneau notched 10 points for Bethel, who got scoring from 10 different players.
The Royals shot .524 (33-of-63) while the Cougars finished with a .596 (31-of-52) mark. Carvin Fish paced Morris with 34 points and 11 rebounds, while Pieper had 18 points and three steals.
Bethel will host Greenville in game one of their home tournament at the Robertson Center on Friday, November 13 at 7 p.m.
