Mankato, MN - The MLC Knights made the short trip over to Mankato to play their in-conference rival Bethany for a Saturday afternoon matchup. Bethany's previous contest ended in 116-63 victory over Finlandia. Menawhile, the Knights haven't had a regular season game in over a month due to the Christmas break, but did have an Exhibition game vs. Valley City State on Wednesday to get them back into basketball shape. 
   
Neither team scored in the first couple minutes of action until Hunter Nielsen hit a layup at the 17:40 mark. That bucket got the Vikings' offense rolling as they went on a 15-0 run until MLC scored their first basket at the 15:01 mark. Bethany never looked back at that point and cruised to a 103-48 win over MLC. 
 
The rest of the first half saw Bethany get whatever they wanted around the basket and the perimeter, getting a good shot on nearly every possession. As a team, the Vikings shot 20-of-47 from the field (43 percent). The Knights had a tough time getting penetration to the rim and had to settle for heavily contested jump shots and as a result shot 6-of-36 from the floor (17 percent). Bethany led MLC 51-17 at the break.
   
To start the second half, the Vikings didn't let their foot off the gas, extending their lead with a pull-up 3-pointer in transition from Jax Madson, followed by a Mason Ackley dunk. Despite the big deficit, MLC did not give up on the game and hustled after loose balls and rebounds throughout the second half. Micah Kieselhorst was aggressive shooting the ball and led the Knights on the day in scoring with 16 points, on (4-of-10) from 3-point territory. The Knights also received a spirited effort from Ezra Blumer who was active on the glass, grabbing 8 rebounds. 
   
The Vikings were led primarily by Drew Sagedahl who finished with 16 points, with 14 of them coming in the first half. Riley Ashburn also had a big day for Bethany, securing a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. The Vikings outrebounded MLC 64-34 and utilitzed their height and length around the basket, along with scoring almost half (50) of their points in the paint.
   
With the loss, MLC goes to (0-11, 0-3) and will host Maranatha Baptist on Tuesday, January 10th, where they will look for their first win of the season.