NORTHFIELD, Minn. – In its first game in over three weeks, the St. Olaf College men's basketball team was edged 66-60 by visiting Bethel University in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play on Saturday afternoon at Skoglund Center.

After trailing by seven at halftime, St. Olaf (1-10, 0-3 MIAC) got within a point twice in the first four-plus minutes of the second half and trailed by just two inside the final six minutes, but Bethel held on to remain unbeaten in conference play. The game was the Oles' first in 24 days and its first home game in 39 days.

Junior Kobe Kirk led all scorers with 19 points and seven rebounds for St. Olaf, which got 13 points from sophomore Jachin Mertes and 11 off the bench from first year AJ Uhl. Mertes added a team-high eight rebounds on his second double-figure scoring game of the season, while Uhl cracked double digits for the third time with a season-high 11 on 5-for-9 shooting.

Payton Thomsen and Adam Mattes combined for 34 of Bethel's 66 points in the victory. The Royals scored 40 of their 66 points in the paint and had three other scorers with at least seven. Bethel shot 41.0 percent (25-for-61) from the field and limited St. Olaf to 34.3 percent (24-for-70) shooting.

Kirk scored the Oles' first five points of the game to give St. Olaf an early lead, but Bethel grabbed the lead with back-to-back fastbreak layups four minutes in and didn't relinquish the lead the rest of the way.  The Royals broke open a one-point game with an extended 17-6 run to take their largest lead of the game at 35-23 inside the final minute before Kirk hit back-to-back jumpers – including a high-arching three-pointer from the logo at the buzzer – to make it a 35-28 game at the half.

Kirk had 14 of his game-high 19 points in the first half for St. Olaf, while Thomsen and Mattes scored 10 apiece for Bethel. The Royals held a 12-0 advantage in fastbreak points in the opening half to take the seven-point lead.

Consecutive three-point plays by senior Dashiel Walker and Kirk inside the first two minutes of the second half capped an 8-2 start to the half for the Oles and cut their deficit at one at 37-36. Past the midway point of the half, two layups by Mertes sandwiched around a transition three-pointer by Kirk tied the game at 56-56 with 6:59 remaining, but the Royals held the Oles scoreless for the next five-plus minutes to get enough stops to hold on.

St. Olaf will be back in action at crosstown-rival Carleton College in a 7 p.m. start on Monday, Jan. 6.