SAINT PETER, MINN. – Despite giving up leads of 10 and 13 points early in the first half and late in the second half, respectively, the Gustavus Adolphus men’s basketball team was able to persevere and earn a down to the wire 57-55 victory over visiting Carleton College on Wednesday evening at Gus Young Court. The win brings Gustavus’s MIAC record to 8-5 (12-6 overall), and it is now in a three-way tie for third place in the conference with Bethel and Saint John’s. Meanwhile, Carleton falls to 5-9 in the conference and 8-11 overall.
“I thought we got contributions from a lot of our guys, both offensively and defensively,” said head coach Mark Hanson. “To win a game with only one player in double figures means a lot of guys are doing great things and I’m proud of our team effort tonight.”
By the 10:15 mark, Gustavus had raced to an early 15-5 lead thanks to points being scored by seven different Gustie players, including three non-starters. However, Carleton stormed back with a 9-2 run to bring the Gustie lead to only one (17-16) with 5:32 remaining in the first half. The two teams continued to go back and forth for the remainder of the half, and by halftime, the score was knotted at 26-26.
“I thought our defensive intensity was really good for the first part of the first half and the entire second half,” said Hanson. “They are a very difficult team to guard because of how well they run their patterns, and if you take something away, they always have a counter. I thought we stuck with them though and didn’t quit when they made their comebacks. To me, that shows a good deal of maturity on our part.”
Following halftime, neither team led by more than six for the first twelve minutes. After going down one (39-40) with 10:37 to play, Gustavus went on a 14-0 run over the next 5:02 to take its biggest lead of the game at 53-40. The run was highlighted by the Gusties’ six points off of steals from Gary Cooper (Jr., Detroit, Mich.), Martin Feddersen (Sr., Winona, Minn.) and Coleman Sweeney (So., Lake City, Minn.). In all, Carleton had 15 turnovers compared to the Gustavus’s five.
“I liked most of what we did offensively,” said Hanson. “We didn’t shoot well, but we did a nice job from the free throw line, had some key offensive rebounds that helped us finish off a few possessions and took advantage of some of their turnovers.”
However, as they did in the first half, the Knights made another comeback with a 10-0 run to cut the Gustie lead to 53-50 with 25 seconds remaining in the game. Carleton’s Mitchell Biewen and Peter Bakker-Arkema hit three-pointers during that stretch to help the Knights shoot a combined 47.1 percent (8-for-17) from long range during the game.
Down three with 25 seconds to go, Carleton was forced to foul Cooper, who went to the charity stripe and sank both freebies to give Gustavus a 55-50 lead with 20 seconds on the clock. The Knights weren’t done yet though, as first-year big man Kevin Grow came back on the other end to tip in a put-back with five seconds remaining to bring Carleton’s deficit to three. The Knights were again forced to foul however, and Isaac Tapp (Sr., Stewartville, Minn.) calmly drained both free-throws to put the Gusties up 57-52. Biewen came back and hit a heavily contested three-pointer for Carleton with 0.6 seconds remaining, but it was too little, too late and Gustavus held on for the 57-55 win.
“Those free-throws down the stretch were pretty important,” said Hanson. “The way they were shooting it, you kind of expected everything to go in, so to have those extra couple of points at the end there was obviously big for us.”
For the first time all season, Gustavus had just one player who tallied 10 or more points. However, all nine Gusties who played registered at least one point, with eight of those nine tallying six or more. Brody Ziegler (Jr., Mankato, Minn.) had 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting and six rebounds to lead the Gusties, while Feddersen was close behind with nine points on 4-of-7 shooting and six boards. Carleton was led by Grow, who notched a double-double with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting and 11 rebounds. Biewen scored 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting, with all his made shots being three-pointers.
Gustavus shot 41.5 percent from the floor, compared to Carleton’s 41.3. Gustavus was also 10-of-11 from the charity stripe. The Knights did live up to their status as top rebounding team in the conference, as they out rebounded the Gusties 34-26, with 13 of those boards being offensive.
Gustavus’s next game will take place on Saturday when it welcomes No. 21 St. Olaf College to St. Peter. Tip-off with the Oles is set for 3 p.m. on Gus Young Court.