MANKATO, Minn. - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team fell behind early and was never able to get back into the game in a 90-65 loss at Bethany Lutheran on Saturday.

The Vikings jumped on top early, starting the game with a 29-9 run in the opening ten minutes that put the Knights on their heels. MLC battled after that start, cutting the deficit to 15 at one point in the first half, but the Vikings made another run late in the half to take a 47-27 lead into the break.

The Knights picked up the defensive effort in the second half, holding BLC to 13 points over the first ten minutes of the second stanza, but were unable to get anything going on the offensive end during that stretch to put a significant dent into the lead before the Vikings were able to put the game away.

Similar to other games during conference play, the Knights were unable to overcome a significant deficit in points from beyond the three-point arc. The Vikings made 10 of 25 attempts from downtown, while MLC went 4-18 from distance. BLC also shot 49.3 percent from the field overall compared to 38.2 percent for MLC.

Jeffrey Parker led three MLC players with 14 points off the bench. TJ Babinec (13 points) and Erich Neumann (10 points) joined him in double figures, while Ian Paulsen led the team in rebounds (11), assists (four), steals (three) and blocks (two) to go with his nine points.

MLC fell to 1-16 on the season and 0-9 in UMAC play in defeat. BLC improved its record to 10-7 overall and 6-3 in league play with the win.

The Knights will return to action at home on Friday, January 27, when they host Minnesota Morris in a game scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.