The Gustavus men’s basketball team improved to 6-1 on the season with an impressive 91-66 win over the University of Minnesota-Morris in Morris on Friday night. The Gusties jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the game and never looked back on their way toa convincing 25-point victory. Adam TeBrake turned in a fine performance scoring 22 points and grabbing 8 rebounds.
The Gusties were definitely not lethargic from the three-and-a-half hour bus ride to Morris, as they scored 10 points in the first two minutes of the game behind two three pointers from Phil Sowden and one from Trent Hollerich. Gustavus would extend its lead to 12 at 17-5, before the Cougars rallied with an 8-0 run to cut the lead to four at 17-13 with 12:09 left in the first half. The Gusties would control play the rest of the half outscoring UM-Morris 30-14 and taking a 20-point lead (47-27) into the lockerroom. Senior wing Trent Hollerich led the team in scoring with 13 first half points. Gustavus shot a red-hot 53.8 percent from behind the arc making 7-of-13 treys.
Phil Sowden started the second half just like the first scoring four points in the first minute of play to extend the Gustavus lead to 24 at 51-27. The Gusties would maintain a 20-point cushion until the 13-minute mark when the Cougars would use a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 16 (57-41) with 13:22 left to play. That was as close as UM-Morris would get as Gustavus countered with a 10-1 run that pushed the lead back to 25 points at 67-42. The Gusties pushed its lead to as many as 33 points late in the game, before finishing with the 25-point 91-66 victory.
The Gustavus starting five, which consists of Trent Hollerich, Andrew Olson, Adam TeBrake, Phil Sowden, and Jay Stien, turned in a sparkling performance against the Cougars. This group made 26-of-38 shots from the field, including 8-of-12 from 3-point range and 12-of-14 from the free throw line. Phil Sowden had a particularly impressive night as he scored 14 points in 12 minutes of play including 5-of-5 from the field, 2-of-2 from three-point range, and 2-of-3 from the free throw line. TeBrake added 8 rebounds to his 22 points (including 8-of-10 from the field), and Jay Stien contributed 8 points and 10 rebounds.
The Gusties finished the game shooting 55.9 percent from the field (33-59), 47.4 percent from behind the arc (9-19), and 76.2 percent from the free throw line (16-21).
Gustavus, which improves to 6-1 on the season, will now take a 21-day holiday break before returning to play Carthage in Kenosha, Wisconsin on December 30.