BLC in NCAA
Vikings dancing for fourth straight year
Bethany Lutheran College opens play in its fourth straight NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament on Friday.
The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference champion Vikings doesn’t have to travel far for this year’s tournament as they’ll head north on Highway 169 to St. Peter for a regional hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College.
BLC won its fourth straight UMAC tournament title last Saturday with a 76-75 win at Minnesota Morris.
Jackson County Central graduate Pat Garvin is the head coach of the Vikings and another JCC grad, 6-foot-3 junior guard Christian Benda, is on the roster.
Benda received an honor from the UMAC earlier this week as he was named to the conference’s All-Sportsmanship team.
The Vikings, who were the UMAC’s automatic qualifier as winners of the conference tournament, will play host Gustavus in Friday’s second game, scheduled for a 7:20 p.m. tip.
Bethany enters with a 16-11 overall record and are ranked No. 217 in the NPI rankings, while the Gusties are 25-2 overall and ranked No. 12 in the NPI.
The teams did not play during the regular season. Gustavus leads the all-time series 10-3.
Garvin is in his sixth season as head coach at BLC.
He was an assistant coach at Bethany for one season after his playing days for the Vikings, an assistant at Benedictine University in Mesa, Ariz. for two seasons, and a graduate assistant at Minnesota State for two seasons.
On the bench for Gustavus will be former Blue Earth Area coach Gary Holmseth, who was the coach of the Buccaneers while Garvin was playing for the Huskies.
Holmseth, who is in his fourth season as an assistant coach for the Gusties, won 360 games in Blue Earth from 1989-2012. He was inducted into the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2014.
Friday’s opening game at 4:50 p.m. Friday has UW-Stevens Point (19-7) vs. Mary Hardin-Baylor, Tex. (20-7).
The winners of Friday’s opening round games will face each other at 7:20 p.m. Saturday in the second round.