ST. PAUL - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team opened its season with a 94-71 loss at Bethel Saturday night.
The Royals were a tall task for a first opponent for the Knights, who just got the full roster together this week after the end of the fall sports season.Â
MLC hung tough throughout, but were unable to overcome BU's advantages in the paint and outside the three-point arc. The Royals out-rebounded MLC 50-26 in the game, leading to a 48-22 edge in points in the paint. The Royals also shot well from downtown, gonig 10-21 compared to 6-18 for MLC.
The Knights were led by
T.J. Babinec, who scored 22 points in his collegiate debut. The first-year guard made seven of his 14 attempts from the field, including five of nine attempts from beyond the arc.Â
Todd Brassow added 19 points on 8-18 shooting for the Knights off the bench, and also added five rebounds.
Josh Rathje led MLC with seven rebounds to go with nine points, while
Josh VonDeylen finished with a team-best five steals.
MLC will return to action on Tuesday, November 17, when it travels to Macalester for a game scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
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