Seth Anderson led the Gusties with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
The Gustavus men’s basketball team suffered a 79-61 loss at the hands of St. Thomas on Saturday night in St. Paul. St. Thomas led 30-22 at the half and shot 69.6-percent (16-23) from the field in the second half on the way to the win.
Gustavus drops to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the MIAC, while St. Thomas improves to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the MIAC.
Seth Anderson led the Gusties with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting. St. Thomas’ Tommy Hannon and John Nance led all scorers in double-figures. Hannon scored 21 points and was a hot 8-for-10 from the field, while Nance score 16 and was 4-for-9 from the floor and 8-for-11 at the free throw line.
After a tightly contested opening ten minutes of the game, St. Thomas began to build a lead and would go up by nine points at 23-14 with 6:17 left to play in the half. Gustavus outshot the Tommies in the opening half 45.0-to-42.9-percent. Nance (10 points) and Hannon (11 points) combined for 21 points in the half.
A three pointer by Blake Shay at the 13:10 mark of the second half sparked a 10-2 Gustavus run that cut the lead to 48-43. Five points would be as close as the Gusties would come, as St. Thomas built a 12-point lead (57-45) by the 6:30 point. The Tommies would hold on to a double-digit lead for the remaining four minutes of the game.
Gustavus went 14-for-27 from the field in the second half. Seth Anderson scored 11 points within the frame and on 5-of-7 shooting. Hannon went 4-for-4 from the floor to lead the Tommies with 10 points.
The Tommies benefited from 20 Gustie turnovers in the game, scoring 26 points off turnovers.
Gustavus shot 48.9-percent (23-47) from the field, 40-percent (6-15) from behind the arc, and 64.3-percent (9-14) at the line in the game. St. Thomas 56.9-percent (25-44) from the field, 27.3-percent (3-11) from three, and 68.4-percent (26-38) at the line.
The Gustavus men’s basketball team will be back in MIAC action on Monday, Dec. 6 when it takes on Carleton College at 7:30 p.m. in St. Peter, Minn.