ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – Sophomores Rex Lamb and AJ Uhl posted 20-point performances to lead the St. Olaf College men's basketball team to a 78-68 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) road win over Bethel University on Wednesday night at Robertson Center.

Lamb had 18 of his game-high 22 points in the first half and Uhl added 16 of his 21 after halftime for St. Olaf (9-7, 5-2 MIAC), which shot 48.5 percent (32-for-66) from the field in the road win over Bethel (6-9, 3-3 MIAC). The Royals had won six of the last eight meetings between the two programs dating back to 2020.

Lamb finished one point shy of his career high with 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting overall while making 4-of-6 three-pointers on the night. Uhl was also one point from his career high by finishing with a 21-point, 11-rebound double-double on a 10-for-17 shooting night. Five other Oles scored between five and nine points in the win. Senior Kobe Kirk became the third Ole to reach the 1,500-point mark for his career with nine points and seven rebounds.

Nick Burke scored a team-high 20 points for Bethel, shooting 6-for-13 overall and 7-for-8 at the free-throw line. Blake Schmitz contributed 15 points and five rebounds, while Sam Gingras (12) and Jay Neubert (11) were also in double figures. The Royals shot 38.1 percent (24-for-63) as a team and had just seven bench points.

Bethel jumped out to a 6-1 lead over the first two minutes and held a 13-8 lead 6:30 in following a Burke layup. The Royals held their largest lead of the night at 26-19 with 5:04 to go in the first half before the Oles closed the half on an 18-2 run that included three three-pointers by Lamb in the final 1:30. Lamb shot 7-for-9 from the field and 4-for-5 from three-point range in his 18-point first half as the Oles took a 37-28 lead into the break despite trailing for over 16 of the 20 first-half minutes.

To start the second half, Bethel went on an 8-2 run over the first 2:33 to whittle its deficit down to three at 39-36. St. Olaf led by 3-6 points until going an 8-0 run over the span of less than three minutes to open up a 61-49 lead midway through the half. First year Cooper Carlson had a pair of fast-break layups in the run that gave the Oles a double-digit lead that they maintained until the first minute.

A jumper by junior Chris Willis with 7:38 to play resulted in St. Olaf's largest lead of the game at 67-51. Bethel trimmed its deficit to 10 on a three-pointer by Neubert with 1:52 to go and got it down to eight in the final minute before time ran out. Uhl neared a double-double in the second half alone with 16 points on 8-for-13 shooting and nine rebounds. The Oles shot 51.4 percent (18-for-35) after halftime as a team.

St. Olaf will continue a run of three consecutive road games by traveling to Hamline University for a 3 p.m. start on Saturday, Jan. 17.