The Gustavus men’s basketball team claimed its fifth straight MIAC win with a 71-50 victory over Macalester in St. Paul on Wednesday evening. The Gusties were led by Kane Sivesind with 18 points and Andrew Doble with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Gustavus is now 13-3 overall and 9-2 in MIAC play.
Coach Mark Hanson saw his squad get off to a fast start as the Gusties made five of their first eight shots in building a seven-point lead (11-4) in the first five minutes of the game. Macalester countered with a 14-4 run to take a three-point lead (18-15) at the 12:06 mark. Gustavus would control the final 12 minutes of the half outscoring the Scots 23-9 and taking an 11-point (38-27) lead into the locker room at the intermission. Jesse Van Sickle sparked the Gusties with 12 points on five-of-seven shooting from the field including two-of-four from three-point range.
Macalester used two layups by Abe Woldeslassie early in the second half to cut the Gustie lead to nine at 40-31, however, Gustavus countered with a 5-0 run that extended the lead back to 14 points (45-31). The Scots would get no closer than 10 points the rest of the game, while the Gusties would extend their lead to as many as 23 points at 67-44 with 3:59 left on the clock. Macalester outscored Gustavus 7-3 the rest of the way making the final score 70-51 in favor of the Gusties.
Gustavus had very balanced scoring in the game as four players reached double digits including Kane Sivesind with 18 points, Jesse Van Sickle with 14, Andrew Doble with 12, and Trevor Wittwer with 11. The Gusties shot 46.3 percent from the field (31-67).
Macalester was led by Abe Woldeslassie with 16 points and Tom Conboy with 13. In the first meeting of the season between Gustavus and Macalester, the Scots won 72-68 and Woldesslassie (33) and Conboy (34) combined to score 67 points.
Gustavus will now return home to face Augsburg on Saturday, January 26 at 3:00 pm.