ST. PETER, MINN. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s basketball team will play in its 2014-15 home opener on Saturday when it hosts the University of Minnesota, Morris in a 3 p.m. game on Gus Young Court. Gustavus enters the game with a record of 1-1 after splitting a pair of games with Simpson College and Buena Vista University this past weekend. Minnesota-Morris comes to town with a similar record of 1-1, after falling to Concordia College in its season opener on Saturday and defeating Trinity Bible College on Tuesday evening in Morris, Minnesota.
LIVE COVERAGE
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LAST TIME OUT
Gustavus heads into today’s game coming off of a season-opening road trip to Iowa where they took on Simpson College and Buena Vista University this past Saturday and Sunday. In Saturday’s game against Simpson, the Gusties found themselves in a small hole early, but managed to climb out and build a 16-point (40-24) halftime lead.
Following halftime, Simpson slowly but surely began to chip away at the Gustavus lead, but did not cut the Gustie advantage below 10 until the 11:43 mark in the second half. Then, a Dillon Gretzky three-pointer keyed a 7-0 Simpson run that would cut the Gustie lead to 46-45 with 7:57 remaining in the game. For the next several minutes, Gustavus and Simpson went back-and-forth, with the Storm even grabbing a one point advantage with 6:20 to play. But the Gusties held their own and went on a 10-1 run that put them back in front 59-50 with 3:08 remaining. The run proved to be the difference and Gustavus eventually held on for a 66-58 victory.
Gustavus shot 34.9-percent from the floor compared with Simpson’s 44.2 percent, however, the Gusties out-rebounded the Storm 46-34 and also made the most of their free-throws, which proved to be the difference in the game. Gustavus shot 18-of-22 (81.8 percent) from the charity stripe, while Simpson shot just 8-of-18 (44.4 percent) on free throws.
On Sunday against Buena Vista, the game was close throughout, with neither team ever leading by more than eight, and at halftime, the two squads were knotted up at 40 points apiece. The Gusties started the second half with a bang, going on an eight point run, and with 17:20 remaining in the game, led 50-42. However, the Beavers then went on an eight point run of their own and four minutes later, the score was again tied, this time at 50-50. From that point, the Gusties led by as many as four, with Buena Vista not leading by more than two until the final seconds.
With 19 seconds remaining in the game, Gustavus came up with a loose ball offensive rebound and Martin Fedderson was able to put in a layup that tied the score at 73-73. The Beavers then came back up the floor and got the ball to senior Cole Darrow, who made his move and banked in a shot from the top of the key at the buzzer to seal a 76-73 win for Buena Vista.
Brody Ziegler led the way for Gustavus by going 9-of-14 from the floor for 20 points. He also pulled down eight rebounds and dished out four assists. Fellow big man Peter Kruize put up 12 points, brought down four rebounds and distributed three assists, while Isaac Tap and Fedderson each had 10 points and four assists.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
UM-Morris has played in three games to this point and comes into today’s game at 1-2 after falling to Concordia College 69-61 in its season opener on Saturday, defeating Trinity Bible College 101-78 on Tuesday evening and falling to Saint John’s University 92-69 on Thursday evening. Senior guard RJ Dean has led the Cougars in scoring to this point, averaging 13.3 points per game and scored a team high 14 and 18 points, respectively in Minnesota-Morris’s first two games. In its most recent game against Saint John’s, Minnesota-Morris could not stop the Johnnies from beyond the arc, with Saint John’s accumulating 36-percent of its shots from three, an 11-of-18 clip. Free-throws were also an issue for the Cougars, as they shot just 52.4-percent from the charity stripe (11-of-21).
THE SERIES
This afternoon’s contest marks just the eighth meeting between Gustavus and the University of Minnesota, Morris on the hardwood, with the Gusties holding an all-time record of 3-4 against the Cougars. In last season’s meeting in Morris, Gustavus led for the entire second half, but with just 26 seconds remaining, UM-Morris’s Brendon Foss scored a layup to give the University of Minnesota-Morris a 65-64 lead. That proved to be all the Cougars would need as they secured a 68-64 victory. Foss’s layup came in the midst of a 10-0 run to close the game for UM-Morris.