Feb 6, 2025
Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Martin Luther College’s Tom Balge (21) goes for a layup while guarded by Bethany Lutheran College’s Teon Thomas (10) during a UMAC men’s basketball game at MLC on Wednesday evening.
NEW ULM — Despite a tough defensive effort and a first-half lead, the Martin Luther College Knights got cold in the second half as the Bethany Lutheran Vikings battled back for an 88-74 win in an Upper Midwest Classic Athletic Conference men’s basketball game.
Jax Madson led BLC with 26 points and 10 rebounds, while Drew Sagedahl had 16 points and 10 rebounds. DJ Akpati added 15 points for the Vikings, while Jack Brockmann had 12.
MLC was led by Adam Loberger’s 22 points and six rebounds, while Thomas Balge had 16 points.
MLC shot 48.4% from the floor to BLC’s 42.9%, but the script flipped in the second half as the Knights shot just 24.3% to the Vikings’ 37.8%. BLC ended up outshooting the Knights from the floor in the game 40.5% to 35.3%.
A strong defensive effort early in the first half allowed the Knights to climb out to a 26-13 lead after an 8-0 run.
The Vikings made a push back after that, cutting their deficit to 30-25 after a driving layup from Julias Hendricks.
The Knights got a double-digit lead back, 39-29, after a pair of free throws from Balge, but the Vikings ended the half with a pull-up 3 by Madson to trail 46-41 at halftime.
After a layup from DJ Akpati made it a 3-point game to open the second half, Loberger hit a 3 to make it 49-43. Loberger hit another 3 to make it 52-43, but that second 3 ended up being the last back-to-back 3 in the game for the Knights as they hit on 5 of 21 3-pointers in the second half. They finished 9 of 33 from beyond the arc in the game to BLC’s 7 of 21.
Balge hit a free throw to put the Knights up 10 again after that, but the Vikings got a 14-0 run to lead 55-53 after a Jack Brockmann layup. Kegan Heiderscheidt added a free throw for a 56-53 BLC lead before a Seth Veers and-one had it tied at 56-all. Brockmann again gave the Vikings the lead, 58-56, but Ethan Kjenstad knocked down a 3 to have MLC back in front.
After Benjamin Vasold hit a 3 to have MLC down 67-65 with less than nine minutes to play, Madson connected on a 3 of his own and Akpati hit a floater for a 72-65 BLC lead.
MLC got within 4 after that but could never hit shots consistently to maintain the back-and-forth affair as the Vikings stretched their lead to double digits, getting bonus free throws in the last minute by Madson to make the final score and their largest lead of the night.
The Vikings beat the Knights 95-93 in Mankato on Jan. 22, sweeping the regular season series with Wednesday night’s win.
MLC is now 7-13 overall and 2-7 in the UMAC, while BLC moved to 9-11 overall and 6-3 in the UMAC.
MLC is at UW-Superior for a 3 p.m. UMAC game Saturday.
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