MANKATO, Minn. – Despite scoring stats from seven different players, including three in double-digits and a .444 percentage from the field, North Central University men's basketball could not hold on against Bethany Lutheran College on Friday night, dropping the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference contest by a final of 86-98.

Bethany Lutheran (Mankato, Minn.) jumped out to an early lead, holding a 10-4 advantage after the first four minutes of play before the Rams tied the score on a three-pointer from junior CJ Lewis (Minneapolis, Minn./UW-River Falls) and then took the lead on a jumper from sophomore Jared High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo). The rest of the first half continued with back-and-forth action, and although the Vikings held a 10-point lead (35-25) with 6:27 remaining in the frame, the Rams surged on a 12-1 run in just two minutes to regain the advantage over BLC. A Lewis free-throw gave NCU a one-point lead with 1:15 left in the half, but Bethany Lutheran knocked down a three-pointer just before the buzzer to take a 44-42 lead heading into halftime.

It took just 13 seconds for North Central to even the score in the second half, but Bethany Lutheran immediately scored 11 unanswered en route to a 14-point advantage—its largest of the night. The Vikings kept NCU at bay for the next nine minutes before the Rams clawed their way back, pulling to within one on a layup from sophomore Levi Herrick (Minocqua, Wis./Lakeland Union) with 7:47 remaining. However, that was the closest North Central would come, and BLC pulled away for good, extending its lead back to 14 with 23 seconds left. Junior Travis Voigt (Green Bay, Wis./Northeastern Lutheran) made one last layup for the Rams to bring the final score to 96-68.

Lewis scored 25 points, which ties his career high at North Central. Voigt added 22 points, while High pitched in 17 points and 10 rebounds. As a team, the Rams shot .444 from the field, compared to the Vikings' .464. NCU also dropped 10 three-pointers, but were out-edged by 11 from BLC. Although Bethany pulled down just four more rebounds than North Central (41-37), perhaps one of the biggest difference-makers in the game was second-chance points: NCU scored just two compared to BLC's 21.

The 2016-17 UMAC season comes to a close on Saturday evening as North Central (8-14 overall, 4-11 UMAC) travels to Martin Luther College to take on the Knights (1-23, 0-15). Tip-off is set for 4:00 p.m. The Rams will then travel to Finlandia University (5-18) on Monday night for their season finale.