God bless the MIAC which adopted a double-header format this year for the 1st time. So today I went down to Hamline to watch my first MIAC double. The Bethel Royals swept the Pipers, the men in an exciting 84-80 game and the women 65-53. As a result, Bethel will be able to claim 1st place in the MIAC in both divisions at least through the 1st of January. The men are tied with Gustavus at 2-0 while the women have sole possession at 3-0, though Gustavus will have a chance to tie them when they take on St. Olaf next Wednesday in the only MIAC conference game remaining in 2024.
Bethel men 84 Hamline 80
The men were 1st at 1 p.m., and Hamline took early leads of 17-9 and 25-17, no thanks to Bethel’s Payton Thomson, the MIAC’s #2 scorer. Thomson scored Bethel’s 1st 17 points on 4-of-5 2s and 3-of-4 3s, including 2 that had to be from beyond 25 feet. Meanwhile, Hamline’s Brad Cimperman, the MIAC’s #3 scorer, scored 7 of the Pipers’ 1st 9 points, though he cooled off for the rest of the 1st half. Still, after those 1st 17 points. Thomson added 15 more for a total of 32. After his 1st 7, Cimperman added 12 more. More to the point, Bethel caught up to Hamline at 29-29, and took its 1st lead (since 2-0 and 4-2) at 31-29. By halftime, Bethel led 46-38 as Thomson had 24 points on 9-of-14 FG and 4-of-8 3s. From 25-17 Hamline, Bethel outscored the Pipers 29-13 the rest of the 1st half.
Bethel led by double digits for much of the 2nd half, 71-60 for the final time at 10:30. Now it was Hamline clawing back with 6 straight points. Then at 7:04 Thomson appeared to get hit in the head on a drive. No foul was called, and Thomson protested, drawing a technical foul. Coach Zach Filzen sat him down, and he did not score again. Finally Hamline made it a one-possession game at 80-78 at 1:30 as Brandon Ebel scored 2 straight buckets. Nick Burke and Caden Boettcher responded with a pair of throws apiece, so that Austin Holt’s last-second bucket for Hamline was too little, too late.
Burke led Bethel in the 2nd half with 13 points while Cimperman had 10 and Holt 8 for Hamline in the 2nd. In the end, Bethel’s biggest difference-maker was 21-of-24 FT including 15-of-17 in the 2nd half, while Hamline also made a respectable15-of-19. For the game, Bethel shot 29-of-63 from the field, Hamline 30-of-64. Bethel made 5-of-19 3s, Hamline 5-of-18. Hamline led the rebounding 37-34. So it was those free throws that swung things to the Royals. Thomson, as we said, finished with 32 points, Burke 17, Boettcher 15 and Adam Mattes 10 for Bethel. For Hamline, Cimperman scored 19, Holt 17, Raoul Vaidya 16 and Ebel 12. Cimperman led both teams with 13 boards and 6 assists.
Bethel women 65 Hamline 53
The Bethel women took early leads of 10-2, 12-4, 14-6 and 17-6 at the end of the 1st quarter as Hamline made just 3-of-13 shots and missed 6 layups, several of them uncontested and others only lightly contested. Hamline guards Katie Trachsel and Yasmeen Abed got to the rim OK, but they couldn’t convert, making 4-of-21 shots between them. Hamline missed 5 more layups in the 2nd quarter.. Camille Cummings finished as Hamline’s only player in double figures with 20 points on 6-of-14 shooting (her teammates were 11-of-37), but she had a hard time getting untracked, missing her only shot of the 1st quarter. Her 1st 2 FG , a 3 at 1:48 and a layup at 26 seconds of the 2nd, helped Hamline cut Bethel’s lead from 26-14 to 26-21 at the half.
In the 2nd half Hamline made it a one-possession game at 29-26. In fact, Cummings made 3 layups in the 1st 4-and-a-half minutes to stay within 33-28. But soon it was 44-31 as Anna Garfield made 6-of-6 FT, and Bethel maintained a double digit lead the rest of the way.
Amazingly, Hamline outshot Bethel 38-33% overall and 39-33% on 3s, but Bethel outscored Hamline from the FT line 28-15. Equally or even more amazingly, Hamline outscored Bethel 26-16 in the paint, 20-16 on turnovers and 10-4 on the fast break. In other words, Hamline scored 56 points in the paint, on turnovers and the fast break. In reality, they only scored 53 points. Bethel scored 42 points in the paint and on turnovers, 2nd chancers and the fast break. On “normal” scoring–not in the paint, not on turnovers, not 2nd chances and not fast breaks–Bethel added another 23 points, Hamline zero. Bethel also dominated the rebounding 40-21.
Point guard Collette Duininck led Bethel with 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting and 2 assists. Shooting guard Anna Garfield added 14 points on 10-of-12 FT with 6 boards and 3 steals. 6-foot wing Elly Schmitz also scored 14 with 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 3 blocks. Bethel had 6 players with 5 or more points. Hamline had just Cummings with 20 points and Abed with 9.
Right Now
Bethel men 2-0 and 6-2; St. John’s 2-0 and 6-2; Gustavus 2-0 and 5-2
Bethel women 3-0 and 6-1; Gustavus 2-0 and 7-0; St. Ben’s 2-0 and 6-1; and St. Scholastica 2-0 and 4-4