ST. PAUL, Minn.— In the highest scoring game of the year, the University of Northwestern's men's basketball team defeated Bethany Lutheran College 97-54 on Saturday night. With a comfortable lead throughout the night, the Eagles used momentum in their favor with the crowds of the annual Hoops Hysteria event.

Both teams battled back and forth with the score tied until six minutes passed. BLC's Cody Sticha brought the visitors to their feet with a dunk seven minutes into the half as Vikings fans enjoyed the crowd-pleaser. Five charity points from Will Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) brought the Eagles up to 17-12. Cody Sprenger (Grey Eagle, Minn./Long Prairie-Grey Eagle) added the needed momentum for the home team with a shot from downtown, assisted by Kyle Ooms (Hollandale, MN/Albert Lea High School), with 9:49 on the clock. Thomas Shephard (Crystal, N.D./Valley-Edinburg) wanted in on the fun with another trey just seconds after, putting the Eagles up 27-16, forcing the Vikings to call a timeout. Neil Eichten drained a three, giving Bethany a small push as they continued to trail 29-21. Shephard, with two consecutive baskets, brought the Eagles to a 13 point advantage with six minutes on the clock. Porter Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School) made the 4th shot from behind the arc with 2:38 on the board, putting UNW up 41-25. With only a few seconds to go, Cody Sprenger (Grey Eagle, Minn./Long Prairie-Grey Eagle) charged the lane, but drove the ball out to Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) behind the three-point mark, who capitalized on a crowd-pleasing halftime buzzer-beater. The Eagles ended the first period with the score of 48-30.

Gisler and Carney added two treys in the third minute of the half as Bethany Lutheran struggled to score, putting only six points on the board in the first 4 minutes of play. Gisler and Shephard brought Northwestern to a 26 point lead with both of their shots from behind the arc with times at 12:57 and 12:32. Matt Lindgren (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) came in off the bench and went in hard as he plowed through the paint, making his first layup of the game. As time slipped away from the visitors, the Purple and Gold seemed to keep heating up, taking a 34 point lead with six minutes to go. Aaron Youngberg (Pocahontas, Iowa/Pocahontas Area) went in for a rebound and went in for the layup, just before Kyle Filzen (Northfield, Minn./Faribault Bethlehem Academy) drained a three, putting the score at 93-54. With just two minutes to go, Tyler Van Maanen (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian) and Isaiah Rahier (Northome, Minn./Northome) added to the mix with a layup and a jumper. With three points away from a hundred, the crowd started chanting "three," but the Eagles kept passing the possession as the clock ran out with a final score of 97-54.

With 97 points, five double digit players stood out in the mix, including Will Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) who led with 20. Gisler made three of his six points from behind the arc. Carney and Shephard were close behind with 16 and 14. The Purple and Gold had an impressive 56.1 shooting percentage for field goals and 52.4 for threes.

Northwestern (7-9, 5-0 UMAC) will resume conference play and travel to Crown College on Friday to play in St. Bonifacius at 7:30p.m. The Eagles will face the University of Minnesota Morris on Saturday with a tip-off time of 5 p.m.