ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – Junior forward Chandler Wellman couldn't miss a shot Saturday afternoon inside the Robertson Center. In fact he didn't miss a single attempt going 8-for-8 with a career-high 19 points, leading the Bethel University men's basketball team to a 73-69 win against Gustavus Adolphus.
The Royals caught fire from 3-point range shooting a season second best 53.8 percent going 14-of-26. It's Bethel's third win in four games improving them to 9-4 on the year and 6-2 in conference play. The Royals begin a three game road trip Wednesday at St. Olaf. Tip off is set for 7 p.m.
Wellman added a team-high six rebounds while making a career-high three 3-pointers. Senior guard Granger Kingland added 18 points while Hudson Urbanus scored 11 including a pair of threes. Isaiah Carver-Bagley finished with four boards and a game-high five assists.
The Royals showed no panic as Gustavus (5-9, 5-4 MAIC) erased Bethel's nine-point halftime lead with 13:00 left in the game. It wasn't less than three minutes later that a 3-ball from Kingland gave the lead back to the Royals for good. Wellman knocked down a jumper in the paint before grabbing a steal on the other end and turning it into a layup extending the lead to double digits.
A handful of transition 3-pointers for Gustavus moved it to a one possession game with under a minute to go. Urbanus went to the line sinking the front end of a two shot foul sealing the victory for the Royals.
Carver-Bagley started out Bethel's hot 3-point shooting afternoon giving the Royals their first lead of the contest at 10-8 with 14:33 left in the first. The offense stayed efficient scoring on its next three possessions. The Gusties cut it to one before Jack Jenson knocked down his only three of the night giving the Royals their largest lead to that point at 23-16. Urbanus and Kingland knocked down late threes helping BU knock down seven first-half threes for a 41-32 lead at the break.
Stroy by Austin Lagesse, Bethel University Assistant Sports Information Director
MBB | Chandlar Wellman now with a career-high 3⃣ long ones pic.twitter.com/TQvM7kqn8Y
— Bethel Gameday (@BethelGameday) January 11, 2020
MBB | Wellman making it look easy out there! He now has a career-high 17 pts on 7-of-7 shooting #d3hoops
— Bethel Gameday (@BethelGameday) January 11, 2020
GAC 58, #BURoyals 63 // 2nd H - 6:22 pic.twitter.com/NcxFb3kZ3T