No. 2 Bethany Lutheran battles back for UMAC men's basketball postseason championship victory - Mar 4, 2020
The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) men's basketball tournament concluded with No. 2 Bethany Lutheran College punching a ticket to the NCAA tournament for the second time in the last three seasons after a thrilling comeback 92-82 win over No. 4 College of St. Scholastica Saturday. The Vikings trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half and were down nine with 8:04 to play in the game. At that point, the Vikings then went on a 15-2 run to regain the lead and go up seven points with 3:01 to play in the game. That was too much for the No. 4 Saints to overcome as the Vikings clawed their way back to a postseason title. Having come in to the tournament as the No. 2 seed the Vikings appeared to have the upper hand hosting the championship for the second time in the last three years against a Saints team that played an additional game as the No. 4 seed. However, the Saints came out strong shooting over 51 percent from the field in the first half including 7-for-14 from beyond the arc. The underdog Saints took a 49-43 lead at the half and continued to play strong through the first half of the final 20 minutes. The Vikings managed, though, to find their touch late in the second half and finished the half shooting 57 percent. Trenton Krueger (6'6''-F) earned the Tournament MVP nod after compiling a 29-point scoring performance on 12-of-15 shooting from the field. He also hit two 3-pointers and added a game-high 13 rebounds. The senior finished the tournament with 42 points and 18 rebounds in two games. The Vikings also received solid outings Saturday from Jared Milinkovich (6'3''-G) and Cire Mayfield (6'0''-PG) who collected 25 and 16 points, respectively. Mayfield finished with a double-double adding a game-high 11 assists. Jack Silgen (6'6''-F) finished an impressive tournament with 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Saints in the loss. Jarod Wilken (6'6''-F) came off the bench for a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double, while Collin Anderson (6'0''-PG) ended his incredible career in the postseason with 16 points. The Saints' season ends with a15-13 overall record.
All-Tournament MVP: Trenton Krueger (6'6''-F) of Bethany Lutheran Player of the Year: Timothy Wendel (6'6''-F) of Crown Freshman of the Year: Solomon Bach (6'6''-F) of Northwestern, MN Coach of the Year: Tim Grosz of Northwestern, MN
Fletcher
