ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – A big second half comeback where the Bethel University men's basketball team erased a 21-point deficit forced overtime in the Royals MIAC opener against Augsburg. The Royals went on to outscore the Auggies 13-7 in the extra five minutes capturing its first win of the season, 85-79.

Breakout second half performances from seniors Noah Whalen and Isaiah Rollins led the duo to career-high nights with 17 and 15 points respectively. Junior Jaren Tschetter showed his effectiveness off the bench with a career-high 13 points. Senior Isaiah Carver-Bagley lit it up from downtown hitting eight treys en route to a 23-point performance.

On the boards – where BU narrowly outrebounded Augsburg 36-33 – Carver-Baley and Chandler Wellman each had eight.  

Call it the tale of two halves. Bethel trailed 43-27 at the break before Augsburg opened up the lead to 21 points with 12:45 remaining. All the Royals could do was chip away as a 3-pointer by Wellman at the 6:18 mark sparked an 18-0 run.

Back-to-back threes from Rollins in the final 90 seconds got BU within one. He had one more look behind the arc that rolled in and out before Carver-Bagley came down with the offensive board getting fouled in the process. Hitting one of two at the line, BU forced overtime where Carver-Bagley and Tschetter each hit a pair of threes to seal the victory.

Augsburg's lead didn't reach double digits until late in the first, large in part to a 55.2 percent first-half shooting performance. BU's reinforcements off the bench took over outscoring Augsburg's bench 35-2 while the Royals knocked down 19 shots from beyond the arc.

In a quick turnaround, Bethel is back in action Saturday at Hamline in a MIAC showdown beginning at 2 p.m. inside Hutton Arena.

Story provided by Austin Lagesse, Bethel University Assistant Sports Information Director