DES MOINES, Iowa – After playing to a tie at the half on Wednesday night with Grand View University, Benedictine Men's Basketball lost the second-half scoring battle by four points, falling to the Vikings 73-69.

Benedictine opened the game with a 3-pointer from Braden Belt giving the Ravens an early lead. The Vikings responded with 8 straight points only to see the Ravens answer with their own run of 9-0 run that gave them back the lead. That set the tone of the first half as the teams went on to play through four ties with two lead changes inside the final seconds that led to another Belt 3-pointer to tie the game at 29 at the break.

Neither team was able to pull away in the second half until the midpoint of the half when Jack Vander Woude's 3-pointer gave the Ravens a 5-point lead. Grand View answered an 8-0 run that gave them a 4-point lead. The Vikings never gave back the lead, extending it to as much as 9 points before a pair of 3-pointers from Belt pulled Benedictine back within 4 points. 

Grand View connected on 5 free throws in the final 15 seconds to hold off a late run by Benedictine to earn the four-point win.

Belt led three Ravens in double figures with 20 points. Haggen Hilgendort added 16 points while Brycen LaRue added 14. Benedictine finished with their best night at the charity stripe, hitting 10 of 11 while the Vikings went 19 of 26.

Benedictine is off until Dec. 13 when they travel to Marshall, Mo., to take on Missouri Valley College Vikings at 7:30 p.m.

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