NEW ULM, Minn. - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team opened conference play with a 102-98 defeat to rival Bethany Lutheran on Saturday.

The Knights start three first-year players, and those three players (Jeffrey Parker, Ian Paulsen and Richard Eckmann) led the way with a combined 60 points between them to give the team a chance.

MLC started strong, but the Vikings got hot late in the first half, making five three-pointers on the way to a 46-40 halftime lead.

Parker ignited the MLC offense in the second half, scoring 14 of his 24 points on a variety of jumpers, floaters and lay-ups to get the crowd and his teammates going. With the Vikings looking to stop Parker, Paulsen got his game going as well, scoring 14 in the half to go with T.J. Babinec's 15 points after the break.

MLC held the lead midway through the second half, and never trailed by more than four points in the final 13 minutes, but were unable to come up with the key stops down the stretch as the Vikings held on for the win.

The Knights shot 51.4 percent from the field and outscored the Vikings 50-34 in the paint, but BLC finished with a 29-14 advantage on made free throws, and also finished with 11 three-point field goals compared to eight for MLC.

Parker led all players with 24 points, and also added seven rebounds and six assists. Paulsen scored 19 and grabbed a team-best eight rebounds, while Eckmann and Babinec scored 17 points apiece. 

MLC fell to 1-5 on the season and 0-1 in UMAC play in defeat. The Vikings improved to 2-3 overall and 1-0 in league play with the win.

The Knights will return to action on Monday, December 5, when they travel to Augsburg for a game scheduled to tip off at 5:45 p.m.