The depth of the Gustavus men’s basketball team proved to be too much for Saint Mary’s as the Gustie bench outscored their counterparts 29-12 in a 81-62 victory on Monday night in Winona. Head Coach Mark Hanson’s squad continued to shoot well from the field as Gustavus shot 54.8 percent on 34-of-62 shooting. Eleven different Gusties scored in the game with Sam Paulson and Jesse Van Sickle leading the way with 19 and 18 points, respectively.
Two layups from Sam Paulson and two three-pointers and a jump shot from Jesse Van Sickle got the scoring started for Gustavus early in the contest as both players accounted for a 14-6 lead for the Gusties. A pair of free throws from Lukas Holland and layup from Josh Knights pulled Saint Mary’s to within four points at 14-10, which was as close as the Cardinals would get for the rest of the game. Off the bench, Robert Schmidt provided two key three-pointers, along with layups from Dan Schmidtknecht and Phil Wirtjes, to break the game open for Gustavus with a double-digit lead at 24-12 with 12:12 left on the clock.
Saint Mary’s fought its way back into the contest with an 11-2 run, as the Gusties hit just one field goal in a six-minute span to cut the deficit to 31-27. However, Gustavus would headed into halftime with a 40-31 advantage due in part to five points from Tyler Grey and a pair of free throws from Ky Battern off of the bench.
The Gusties came out of the locker room firing as they made six of their first nine shots in the second half to extend the lead to 53-37 with 14:21 left on the clock. A three-pointer by Josh Knights reduced the Cardinal deficit to 12 points at 55-43, but Gustavus continued to add to its lead before closing out the game by the score of 81-62.
Sam Paulson led the Gusties with a career-high 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting followed closely by 18 points from Jesse Van Sickle. Mike DesLauriers added eight assists, while committing two turnovers. Gustavus also owned the rebounding edge as the Gusties outrebounded Saint Mary’s 39-27.
The Cardinals were paced by Will Wright, who contributed 24 points and three steals, and Lukas Holland and Josh Knights with 11 points each. All three players played more than 33 minutes in the contest.
Gustavus will play its last game before the end of the semester on Wednesday night against Augsburg at 7:30 p.m. in St. Peter.
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