MANKATO, Minn. – Four Bethany Lutheran starters scored in double figures and the Vikings shot over 55 percent in the second half and 52 percent for the game to hand the UW-Superior men's basketball team a 79-66 loss at North Gym on Saturday.
Despite BLC's hot shooting, it was the Yellowjackets who came bursting out of the gate to open a 13-2 advantage in the first four minutes of action. UWS hit six of its first nine shots on the day.
Josef Fahrenholtz (Chatfield, Minn./Chatfield) capped the run with a 3-pointer and Superior was on its way.
Bethany was able to close the gap to 17-13 at the midway point of the first half with a Cire Mayfield layup, before a
Carter Brown (Eau Claire, Wis./Regis Catholic) three-point play later push the lead back to 11 at 24-13 with 8:52 remaining in the half.
From there, Bethany used a 16-4 stretch to take its first lead of the game at 29-28 with 2:14 to play when Ryan Samuelson hit a layup.
Eli Vogel (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) responded with a basket on the next possession, but the Vikings rattled off nine consecutive points to take a 38-30 edge into the halftime locker room.
A Justin Schupp trey gave BLC an 11-point lead just 13 seconds into the second half. UWS rallied, though, as Vogel knotted the game at 49-all at the 14:38 mark with a triple following a
J'Vaun Walker (Rosharon, Texas/Manvel) steal.
A dunk from
Andrew Kunelius (Caledonia, Minn./Caledonia) gave Superior is final lead of the game at 56-55 with 11:21 remaining as BLC held the 'Jackets to just four points over the next eight minutes to take a 76-60 edge.
Xavier Patterson (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) led three UWS players in double digits with 13 points, Walker scored 12 points off the bench and Vogel added 11.
Mason Ackley (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) came up with nine points and a team-high six rebounds.
Brian Smith scored 19 and five assists to pace Bethany Lutheran (11-9, 7-3 UMAC).
UWS (7-13, 4-6 UMAC) will close its non-conference slate with a trip to Finlandia on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT.
