NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Senior Nate Albers scored a career-high 29 points but visiting Bethel University shot 61.5 percent from the field in the second half to defeat the St. Olaf College men's basketball team, 81-73, on Wednesday evening at Skoglund Center.

Albers shot 9-for-19 from the field and 9-for-10 from the free-throw line in the game for St. Olaf (6-8, 3-6 MIAC), as the Oles and Bethel (10-4, 7-2 MIAC) were tied 65-65 with 6:21 to go. The Royals broke the tie with a decisive 8-0 run, holding St. Olaf scoreless for nearly four and a half minutes, to gain a split of the regular-season series between the two teams.

Playing without its leading scorer, Granger Kingland, Bethel used a balanced offensive attack with five double-digit scorers in the victory. Isaiah Carver-Bagley paced the Royals with 17 points, while Jack Jenson and Noah Whalen had 16 apiece, Hudson Urbanus had 13 and Chandler Wellman added 12. Whalen shot 5-for-7 from behind the arc off the bench.

Albers was one of three Oles in double figures with his career-high 29 points. Junior Dominic Bledsoe contributed 12 points and a career-high nine rebounds in his sixth-straight game in double figures, while senior Troy Diggins Jr. recorded 10 points and seven rebounds.

After a pair of free throws by Albers tied the game at 65-65 with 6:21 remaining, Bethel held St. Olaf scoreless for 4:24 and made four of its next five shots to take a 73-65 lead with less than two minutes to go. Wellman scored 10 of its 12 points in the second half, including a pair of buckets in the paint in the 8-0 spurt.

The Royals made 8-of-11 free throws down the stretch to hold off the Oles. After shooting just 36.4 percent (12-for-33) from the field in the first half, Bethel shot 61.5 percent (16-for-26), including 63.6 percent (7-for-11) from behind the arc, after the break.

Bethel surged out to a 15-9 lead in the first five minutes of the game, as the visitors made their first three three-pointers early on. The Royals made seven three-pointers in the first 15 minutes of the game but led just 29-27 before the Oles scored 11 of the final 13 points of the half to take a 38-31 lead into the locker room.

St. Olaf used a 6-2 start to the second half to stretch its lead to double figures, 44-33, with 17:54 to go, but Bethel responded with a 14-2 run over the next four minutes to reclaim the lead, 47-46, on a three-pointer by Hudson Urbanus. The teams exchanged the lead 11 times over the next seven minutes before the Royals broke a 65-65 tie with an 8-0 run and held on down the stretch.

St. Olaf shot just 6-for-26 (23.1 percent) from behind the arc, compared to 14-for-31 (45.2 percent) for Bethel. Six players made at least one three-pointer in the win for the Royals, who also committed just seven turnovers in the game.

The Oles visit Macalester at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 18.