Andrew Olson works his way through traffic against Bethel.
Senior Phil Sowden battles inside against the Royals.
Jesse Van Sickle looks to make a pass inside.
Trevor Wittwer drives past a Bethel defender in front of the Gustavus bench.
The Gustavus Adolphus men’s basketball team saw its record fall to 10-8 overall and 8-5 in the MIAC following a 72-66 loss to Bethel Wednesday night at Gus Young Court in St. Peter. Gustavus led 39-36 at halftime, but was outscored 36-27 by the Royals in the second half. Bethel’s Tim Madson scored 20 points to lead all scorers. Andrew Doble (Jr., Sarasota, Fla./Cardinal Mooney) led four Gusties in double-figures with 16 points off the bench.
Gustavus took the early lead early, jumping out 9-2 behind led by five points from Kane Sivesind (Jr., Madison, Wis./Memorial). Back-to-back buckets by Tim Madson would cut the lead to 9-6 with 15:49 to play, but the Gusties would score 18 of the next 29 points over the next 7:22 to lead by 10 at 27-17 with 8:27 remaining on the clock. Gustavus’ run was capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Sivesind and Andrew Olson (Sr., Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna). The Gusties maintained their lead into the half, but saw it threatened as the Royals scored the final five points of the half, including a three-pointer by Cory Laugen at the buzzer.
The Gusties held a tenuous lead throughout much of the second half, never holding a lead of greater than five points in the final half. After holding a couple of one-point leads earlier in the half, Tim Madson gave the Royals the lead for good at 66-65 on a jumper with 1:56 to play. The Royals used free throws to build their lead to seven at 72-65 with :06 to play before Van Sickle closed the gap to six with a free throw with :01 left on the clock. At one point in the second half, the Royals missed four straight free-throw attempts, but rebounded to hit seven of their final eight opportunities.
Madson finished with a game-high 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field, while Charles Meadowcroft added 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting for the Royals. Mike Moberg added 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Bethel finished the game shooting 50.9 percent from the field (28-55), slightly better than Gustavus’ 50.0% from the field (24-48).
Doble hit six of seven shots from the field and all four of his free throw attempts to lead the Gusties with 16 points. After going scoreless in each of the last two games, Olson finished with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-5 from three-point range. Sivesind and Trevor Wittwer (Jr., Redwood Falls, Minn./Redwood Valley) each added ten points.
With a trio of three-pointers, Olson moved into 12th place on the career three-point field goal list with an even 100, one more than Bob Southworth (99 3FG, 1996-99). Senior post Phil Sowden (Sr., Brooklyn Park, Minn./Park Center) scored six points to move into 20th place on the Gustavus career scoring list with 1,129 career points.
Gustavus will travel to Collegeville Saturday, Jan. 27 to face Saint John’s.