The Gustavus men’s basketball team shot a red-hot 63.5 percent from the field (33-52) to post an impressive 76-56 win over Concordia in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday afternoon in St. Peter. Senior point guard Chris TeBrake led Gustavus with 17 points, four assists, four steals and three blocks. Concordia was led by Soren Nelson with 16 points. Gustavus improves to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the MIAC, while Concordia falls to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the MIAC.
Concordia got off to a fast start in the contest and held an eight-point lead at 15-7 at the 12:21 mark of the first half. The Gusties came charging back and outscored the Cobbers 10-2 over the next three minutes and tied the score at 17-17 with 6:51 remaining in the half. Gustavus outscored Concordia 13-6 the rest of the way and held a 30-23 lead at the intermission.
The second half was all Gustavus, as Coach Mark Hanson’s squad outscored the Cobbers 14-3 in the first five minutes of play to extend the lead to 18 points at 44-26. Concordia would get no closer than 14 points the rest of the game, while the Gusties held their biggest lead at 24 (74-50) with 1:53 left to play.
Three Gustavus players reached double-digits in scoring including TeBrake with 17, Tim Brown with 13 and Doug Espenson with 10. Senior guard Eric Nelson scored nine points in the game giving him 1,001 in his career. He is the 27th player in Gustavus men’s basketball history to reach the 1,000 point plateau.