ARDEN HILLS, MINN.—The Bethel University men's basketball team took care of St. Scholastica by an 85-70 score at the Robertson Center Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

The Royals improve to 10-11, 7-6 MIAC, while the Saints fall to 6-16, 2-10 MIAC.

Bethel 85, St. Scholastica 70

All four of the game's lead changes took place within the opening three minutes, as four different Royals contributed layups in their 8-0 run that gave them a 12-7 lead with 16:00 left in the first half. The Saints evened the score once more at 38-38 off Davion Butler's layup with 2:48 on the first-half clock, which provoked a Bethel timeout. The breather paid dividends, as Blake Schmitz scored seven points in the Royals' 9-2 run that gave them a 47-40 halftime lead.

Bethel was in the driver's seat the entire second half. They grew their lead to as wide as 20 points off Jack Rosendahl's two free throws that made it 85-65 with 1:54 remaining before they iced an 85-70 victory.

Schmitz finished with 26 points for the second-straight game, and seven rebounds for the Royals, followed by Sam Gingras's 19 points, six assists, two steals, and four rebounds. Nick Burke was all over the stat sheet with 16 points, six assists, and seven boards while Jack Charbonneau had 16 points, five rebounds, and two steals.

Bethel finished .507 (34-of-67) from the field and .867 (13-of-15) from the charity stripe.

Davion Butler paced St. Scholastica with 24 points, and four steals. The Saints finished .419 (26-of-62) from the field and .800 (12-of-15) from the free throw line.

The Royals will host Northwestern (Minn.) in non-conference action at the Robertson Center on Monday, February 9 at 7:30 p.m.