MILWAUKEE – MSOE men's basketball kicked off their new season in earnest this evening as they hosted Bethany Lutheran in the first of back-to-back days with games. The Raiders offense didn't have an issue scoring, but they couldn't stop their counterparts on the Vikings at the other end of the court in a 17-point loss on Friday night.

FINAL SCORE
Bethany Lutheran – 97
MSOE RAIDERS – 80

HOW IT HAPPENED

• MSOE (0-1) made exactly half of their 28 attempts from the field in the first half, but the problem was Bethany Lutheran (1-0) was shooting at a better clip than that. The Vikings made 64.9 percent of their shots in the opening frame and went 9-17 from downtown to open up a gap against the Raiders that couldn't be closed.
• BLC grew their lead to 21 points by the start of the second half and even though the Red & White tried their best to whittle it down, they could never get their deficit below double digits.
• Overall the Raiders shot 49.2 percent for the game and hit from behind the arc on 13 of 26 occasions. Their bench was also more active than their opponent with 27 points coming from the reserves. 
• The Vikings were active on the offensive boards and brought down 14 under their own basket. They also outscored MSOE 26-6 in the paint and 9-0 in fast break points as the Raiders fell in their first regular season contest by the score of 97-80.

RAIDER REMARKS

• This evening served as the first ever matchup between the two teams.
• Freshman Mason Dopirak made quite the impression in his first official game with the team by leading all players with a game high 28 points.

MSOE STAT TRACKER
Points – Mason Dopirak (28)
Rebounds – Steve Dillard & Mason Dopirak (4)
Assists – Donovan Carter & Quinn Miskowski (3)
Steals – Cade Beekman (3)
Blocks – Donovan Carter & Max Beuthin (1)

WHO'S ON DECK
The Raiders will be right back at it tomorrow afternoon when they take on Martin Luther to close out their first weekend of the 2022-23 season. Game time from the Kern Center is scheduled for 3:00 pm.

For up-to-the-minute MSOE Raiders news, visit us at www.go-raiders.com. You can also follow the Red & White on Twitter @MSOE_Raiders and @msoe_raiders on Instagram.