Paul Blacklock pulling down one of his 11 rebounds of the afternoon.
The Gustavus men’s basketball team scored a season-high 86 points to defeat Bethel 86-52 on Saturday afternoon in St. Peter, Minn. The Gusties were led by Jesse Van Sickle who scored a season-high 25 points on 10-for-17 shooting. With the victory, Gustavus moves back into sole possession of second place in the MIAC standings with just two regular season games left to play. The Gusties improve to 14-9 overall and 12-6 in the MIAC, as Bethel drops to 11-12 overall and 7-11 in the MIAC.
Gustavus started the game with strong defense and hot shooting, as the Gusties scored on their first five possessions of the game, taking an 11-4 lead three minutes into the half. A dunk by Dan Schmidtknecht at the 13:23 mark sparked a 14-4 scoring run that gave Gustavus a 29-11 lead with 8:01 left to play in the half. The Gustavus defense did not allow a Bethel basket for over 4:00 minutes within the run. A three pointer by Van Sickle with :30 seconds left gave Gustavus it’s largest lead of the half at 46-22. Van Sickle finished with 10 points in the half, as Gustavus shot 54.3% (19-35). Bethel shot 32.1% (9-28) in the half, while committing eight turnovers.
Gustavus was in control of the game for the remaining 20 minutes, as Van Sickle went on to shoot 6-for-8 from the field the remainder of the game, leading the team with 15 second half points. A layup by Schmidtknecht with 10:33 remaining in the game put Gustavus up 67-37, as Bethel could not put together a scoring run to threaten the Gustavus lead. Gustavus committed just one turnover in the second half, and 6 total in the game, tying it’s season-low. The Gusties shot 47.2% (17-36) from the field in the half, compared to Bethel’s 25.7% (9-35).
Jesse Van Sickle gets an open look at a jumper. He scored 25 points in the game.
Schmidtknecht and Phil Wirtjes joined Van Sickle in double figure scoring with 12 and 11 points, respectively. The Gusties had the advantage on assists over Bethel 28-8 in the game, as Schmidtknecht recorded seven. Paul Blacklock finished with 11 rebounds and a season-high six blocks. Bethel’s Nate Robertson led the team with 17 points, going 4-for-14 from the field and 9-for-12 from the free throw line. Gustavus shot 50.7% (36-71) in the game, as Bethel shot 28.6% (18-63).
The Gustavus men’s basketball team will be back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 17, against St. Thomas at 7:45 pm in St. Paul.
Ethan, I need confirmation on the validity of this statement “A dunk by Dan Schmidtknecht at the 13:23 mark”, where is the youtube footage.
Good Win Fellas.