The Gustavus men’s basketball team suffered its first loss of the season 74-67 to UW-La Crosse on Saturday night in La Crosse, Wis. After a tightly-contested opening half, UW-La Crosse carried a three point lead into halftime and didn’t look back in the second half, holding on for the seven-point victory. Both the Gusties and Eagles move to 1-1 on the year after Saturday’s outcome.
Gustavus was led in scoring by Seth Anderson and Bobby Johnson. Anderson scored a game-high 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting, while Johnson scored 12 points and was 4-for-8 from the floor. Anderson finished 6-of-11 at the free throw line.
Gustavus shot 43.1-percent (25-58) from the field, while UW-La Crosse shot 49.0-percent (24-49) in the game.
Three-pointers were the difference in the contest. UW-La Crosse was 5-for-7 in the second half and 8-for-15 (53.3%) in the game. Gustavus made just one three-pointer, going 1-for-9 (11.1%) in the game.
Eagle Jeff Haiden was 4-for-5 from three-point range to lead UW-La Crosse with 17 points. Haiden was 4-for-4 from three in the second half alone. Also finishing in double-figures for the Eagles was Al Chery with 13 points and Lucas Collom with 10.
The Gusties out-rebounded UW-La Crosse 39-30 in the game and 18-10 on the offensive end. Johnson and Ben Biewen led Gustavus with seven rebounds each, while Jim Hill brought down six.
After taking just one trip to the line in the first half, UW-La Crosse wen to the line 25 times in the second. The Eagles went 18-for-25 at the charity stripe in the second half, while Gustavus was 10-for-17 in the half, shooting 66.7-percent on the night.
The Gustavus men’s basketball team will have an extended break before taking the floor again on Nov. 30 against Hamline at 7:30 p.m. in St. Paul.