NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team clinched a spot in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs with a 96-82 victory over Bethel University on Wednesday evening at Skoglund Center.

Senior Kobe Kirk and sophomore AJ Uhl combined for 49 points to lead St. Olaf (14-7, 10-2 MIAC) to a season-high point total and a regular-season sweep of Bethel (9-12, 6-6 MIAC). The victory assured the Oles of a playoff spot for the 11th time in the last 14 seasons after St. Olaf won just three MIAC games a year ago.

Kirk led all scorers with 25 points on 7-for-15 from the field, 2-for-4 from three-point range, and 9-for-9 at the free-throw line. Uhl had a career-high 24 points while shooting 10-for-11 from the field and added six rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block. Sophomore Rex Lamb was also in double figures with 18 points while shooting 5-for-10 from the field and 6-for-6 at the charity stripe.

St. Olaf committed a season-low four turnovers, shot a season-best 54.7 percent (35-for-64) from the field, and scored 52 points in the paint in the win. The Oles also made all 19 of their free throws, marking the program's most makes at the line without a miss in at least the last decade. St. Olaf never trailed and led for 38:07 of the 40 minutes.

Blake Schmitz paced Bethel with 26 points on 10-for-15 shooting from the field, while Nick Burke and Sam Gingras were in double figures with 16 and 15, respectively. The Royals shot 50.8 percent (30-for-59) overall, including 58.1 percent (18-for-31) in the second half, and had just seven turnovers.

Uhl scored 15 of his 24 points in the first half to help St. Olaf to a 49-37 lead at the break. The Oles hit six of their first eight shots to jump out to a 14-9 lead over the first 4:14 and never relinquished the lead from that point. Bethel got it down to a two-point game at 16-14 before St. Olaf scored seven in a row to build a 23-14 lead.

After trailing by as many as 12, the Royals cut their deficit to just three at 36-33 with 4:14 to go in the first half before Oles went on an 8-1 run to get their lead back to double figures. St. Olaf shot 54.1 percent (20-for-37) as a team in the opening half and had just one turnover, which came on a shot clock violation in the final seconds of the half.

Despite shooting nearly 60 percent and getting a combined 28 points from Schmitz and Burke in the second half, Bethel was never able to cut St. Olaf's lead to single digits. The Oles extended their lead to 17 three minutes into the second half before the Royals got it down to 10 three times before the midway point of the half. After Bethel made it a 68-58 game with 12:27 remaining, Kirk scored five points in the next 1:03 to start a 14-6 run that gave St. Olaf an 18-point cushion with fewer than eight minutes left.

The Oles will host Saint Mary's University at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 7 and will recognize Kirk, the team's lone senior, prior to tip-off.