MSU overpowers Bethany Lutheran

Mavericks dominate paint with 40-26 rebounding edge

Denny Weller

MANKATO — Too much speed, too much size, and more importantly, too much depth.

Those are the ingredients the Minnesota State men’s basketball team used Saturday afternoon at Bresnan Arena to upend Bethany Lutheran College 84-45 in a nonconference game.

Minnesota State (7-1) went on a 24-2 surge moments after the Vikings tied things at 10 on freshman Kaleb Saindon’s top-of-the-key 3-pointer. Landon Benson, Jake Morrow and Jadee Jones all drained 3-pointers in the run, helping the Mavericks finish the half 8 of 12 from beyond the arc.

“We talked about having some patience because we knew if we tried to run with them we’d be in trouble,” Bethany coach Rick Jeddeloh said. “We turned it over a few times and kind of lost our confidence.

“We kind of got back on our heels and against them that’s easy to do. I thought we guarded them better in the second half.”

Morrow’s pull-up 3-pointer and 6-foot-11 junior post Travis Nelson’s two-handed jam put the Mavericks ahead 34-12 with 9:03 left in the half. The Mavericks’ bench closed out the first half in impressive fashion — putting through 12 of the final 16 points — to extend the margin to 50-20.

“We’re a very deep team and I wanted to use some of our nonconference games to develop the confidence in our young kids,” Mavericks’ coach Matt Margenthaler said. “The depth at this level is so much different than Rick can have at Bethany and that makes a big difference.”

Bethany (3-3) went over seven minutes without a point after Saindon’s bullet 3-pointer produced the final points of the opening half. Senior post Andy Wills led the Vikings with 14 points and seven rebounds. Junior guard Tommy Saffert was held to three points and two assists.

“Our goal was to play big-time defense on them and shut them out,” Benson, a 6-9 sophomore, said. “They were undersized so we wanted to focus on dominating the paint, rebounding and scoring down there.”

Minnesota State, which finished with 20 assists and won the boards 40-26, received 11 points from Gosson and eight apiece from Morrow, freshman Stephen Kirschbaum and Nelson. The Mavericks reserves outscored Bethany 21-0 in the first half and 46-9 for the game.

“Everyone comes in the game aggressive,” Gosson said. “They all have confidence coming off the bench and they all could be in a starting role. I think our ball pressure was better and I think it made them a little hectic and maybe took them out of their offense a little bit.”

Bethany plays Monday at Luther College while the Mavericks open up Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play on Dec. 6 at Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall.

BETHANY LUTHERAN (3-3) 45
Wills, Andy 6-20 0-1 14; Saindon, Kaleb 4-7 0-0 11; Zimmerman, Jeff 2-4 0-14; Frederick, Stephone 2-4 0-0 4; Saffert, Tommy 1-9 0-0 3; Meyer, Mike 1-1 0-0 3; Mpagazihe, Rodrique 1-1 0-1 2; Colbert, Shimi 0-1 2-2 2; Strong, Jeremy 0-0 2-3 2; Thorfinnson, Jeff 0-3 0-0 0; Oertli, Brett 0-0 0-0 0; Doyle, Justin 0-1 0-0 0; Hiller, Matt 0-1 0-0 0; Alexander, Ryan 0-0 0-0 0; Mantey, Aaron 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-53 4-8 45.

MINNESOTA STATE (7-1) 84
Gosson, Mitch 4-6 3-3 11; Benson, Landon 5-12 0-0 11; Kirschbaum, Stephen 2-4 3-4 8; Nelson, Travis 3-5 2-2 8; Morrow, Jake 3-9 0-0 8; Jones, Jadee 3-6 0-0 8; Hill, Marcus 3-3 0-0 7; Grundman, Mitch 1-1 5-6 7; Drapcho, Joe 2-4 2-2 6; Swanson, Kyle 1-1 2-2 4; Bisenius, Mike 1-1 1-1 3; Clark, Jesse 1-3 0-0 3; Morrow, Taylor 0-0 0-0 0; Greeley, Curt 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-56 18-20 84.

Bethany Lutheran.............. 20-25—45

Minnesota State............... 50-34—84

3-point goals--Bethany Lutheran 7-19 (Saindon, Kaleb 3-5; Wills, Andy 2-6; Meyer, Mike 1-1; Saffert, Tommy 1-4; Hiller, Matt 0-1; Zimmerman, Jeff 0-2), Minnesota State 8-13 (Jones, Jadee 2-3; Morrow, Jake 2-4; Kirschbaum, Stephen 1-1; Hill, Marcus 1-1; Benson, Landon 1-1; Clark, Jesse 1-2; Greeley, Curt 0-1). Fouled out--Bethany Lutheran-Frederick, Stephone, Minnesota State-None. Rebounds--Bethany Lutheran 26 (Wills, Andy 7), Minnesota State 40 (Greeley, Curt 5; Benson, Landon 5). Assists--Bethany Lutheran 8 (Zimmerman, Jeff 3), Minnesota State 20 (Clark, Jesse 7). Total fouls--Bethany Lutheran 18, Minnesota State 14. Technical fouls--Bethany Lutheran-None, Minnesota State-None. A-723.