DE PERE, Wis. - Drew Sagedahl scored his 1,000th career point and Dominik Bangu posted a career high 32 points on Monday night as the Bethany Lutheran men's basketball team overcame a 12-point second half deficit and defeated Lake Forest 101-95. With the win the Vikings improve to 3-8 on the year while the Foresters fall to the same mark with the loss.

This game got out to a blazing hot start for both teams as they were able to get their offenses going early. Bethany would claim a 9-8 lead out of the gates but 10 of the next 12 came from Lake Forest as they would take the lead at 18-11. 

The Foresters would maintain their lead at two possessions for a few minutes before another small spurt put them up 30-19 with nine minutes to play in the frame. Bangu would then connect on his third three of the first half to end the run before a Sagedahl triple a few minutes later brought the score to 34-27 in favor of Lake Forest. 

Both team's would trade baskets over the next few minutes and it was with 3:25 to go in the half that Sagedahl would notch his 1,000 career point, as he would finish off the glass inside to make the score 39-33. The Foresters would keep adding to their lead late as they would extend it to 13 with just over a minute to go, but Bangu would hit a jumper and then get a steal on the other end with the fastbreak resulting in a DJ Akpati buzzer beater three to make it 49-41 at the half. 

Bethany would quickly cut the lead down to one point just three minutes into the second half but the Foresters would respond and push their advantage back to 12 points with 10:50 to play. Julias Hendricks then stepped up for Bethany as he scored eight points to help the Vikings on a 13-2 run and they would cut the lead to just one at 82-81 with just 7:22 to go. 

Sagedahl would connect on a jumper with 5:32 to play to put the Vikings in front for the first time since three minutes into the contest, but Lake Forest would answer back with four straight to go up 88-85. Bethany would go on to score seven of the next eight with a Bangu finish inside putting them ahead 93-89 with three minutes to play.

After another basket from the Foresters, Bangu would finish a difficult up-and-under inside to put Bethany back up four. Lake Forest would once again knock down a shot on the other end, but Kegan Heiderscheidt would come up clutch with a driving layup to once again make it a two possession game with just 50 seconds to play. That was as close as Lake Forest would get, as the Vikings would get stops down the stretch and convert on free throws to seal the win. 

Bangu's 32 points were efficient, as he went 12-of-15 from the field and 5-of-6 from three in the contest while also adding nine rebounds and three steals. Akpati finished the night with 22 points and a team-best eight assists, while Sagedahl added 21 points and five rebounds.

Bethany will next be in action on Wednesday, January 8th, when they open up conference play at Northwestern at 5:30 p.m.