The Gustavus men’s basketball team closed out the 2005 portion of its schedule with a 77-70 win over Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Friday night. The Gusties, who were playing for the first time in three weeks, struggled at times due to the long layoff, but hit some clutch shots down the stretch to hold on for their seventh win of the season. Senior wing Adam TeBrake led the team in scoring with 22 points.
The Gusties got off to a quick start in the game surging to a 11-4 lead in the first six minutes of play. A three-point basket by Adam TeBrake gave Gustavus a 17-11 lead with 11:09 left in the half. Carthage rallied to tie the game at 17-17 on a three-point basket by Kyle Jeffery at the 10:27 mark. The Red Men would then take charge of the game over the next seven minutes and led by nine at 32-23 with 2:27 left before the intermission. Gustavus Head Coach Mark Hanson called a 30-second timeout to attempt to stop the Carthage run. The Gusties responded by outscoring the Red Men 13-1 the rest of the half and took a three-point 36-33 lead into the lockerroom. Adam TeBrake scored 18 points in the first half for Gustavus.
Carthage scored the first three points of the second half to tie the score at 36-36. The team would trade small leads early in the half and Brian Schlemm hit a three-point basket to tie the score at 46-46 with 12;46 left in the game. Freshman Mike DesLauriers countered with a trey for the Gusties the next time down the floor. Gustavus would not trail the rest of the game. A three-point basket by Kane Sivesind gave Gustavus a seven-point lead at 55-48 with 9:12 left on the clock. Carthage then went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to one at 55-54. The Gusties countered with five straight points to push the lead back to six at 60-54 at the 6:17 mark. Gustavus managed to hold three-to-five point leads over the next several minutes, but Carthage lead to two at 71-69 on a lay-up by Brian Schlemm with :58 left in the game. Phil Sowden scored the next four points for Gustavus including a clutch turn-around jumper with :25 left to give the Gusties a 73-69 lead. Kane Sivesind was four-of-four from the free throw line in the final :15 to allow Gustavus to hold on for the 77-70 victory.
The Gusties placed five players in double figures including Adam TeBrake with 22, Andrew Olson with 17, Phil Sowden with 12, Trevor Wittwer with 11 and Kane Sivesind with a career high 10 points.
Gustavus will return to league play with a game at Carleton on Monday, Janary 2 at 8:00 pm.