NEW ULM — Behind a pair of double-doubles from Ben Pearson and Adam Loberger, the Martin Luther College Knights pulled out a 78-72 win over Bethany Lutheran College on Wednesday in an Upper Midwest Athletic Conference men’s basketball game.

Pearson finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Loberger had 21 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Tom Balge also had 19 points and six rebounds for MLC, while Ethan Kjenstad added 9 points.

Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s grad Will Walter led the way for the Vikings in the loss with 20 points, hitting on 6 of 16 shots from the 3-point line. Max Briggs added 18 points, while Jack Brockmann had 12 points.

Pearson and Walter traded 3s to open Wednesday’s game before the Knights pulled ahead 8-3 following free throws from Balge and another Pearson 3. The Vikings took the lead moments later and stretched it to 17-9 on a pair of free throws by Rysley Borman.

A 3 by Walter gave the Vikings their largest lead of the night, 30-19, with 6:46 left in the opening half, and the Vikings led 33-29 at halftime.

MLC promptly tied it at 33 to begin the second half, getting a layup by Kjenstad and a jumper from Balge to do so. The lead changed hands a few times after that but stayed within 3 points until MLC got a 3 from Pearson to lead 58-53 with 7:56 to play.

The Knights were able to increase their lead to as much as 7 after that on two separate occasions and hung on for the comeback win.

MLC (8-11, 2-3) is at North Central University in Minneapolis on Wednesday, while BLC (9-8, 2-2) hosts NCU at 2:45 p.m. Saturday.