ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s basketball team suffered its second loss of the New Year against No. 4 University of St. Thomas Wednesday night at Gus Young Court. The defeat moves the Gusties to 4-7 overall and 1-5 in the MIAC. St. Thomas improves to 9-1 overall and 4-1 in the conference.
The Gusties went back and forth with the Tommies in the first five minutes of the game, scoring seven points for a three-point advantage, but couldn’t hold down the Tommies offense as they went on a 12-4 run, leading the Gusties 28-15 with 2:58 remaining in the half. The Gusties fought back, narrowing the lead to 34-27 at halftime.
The Gusties cut the deficit to seven at the 10:53 mark in the second half on a jumper by Brian Jacobs (Sr., Lake Crystal, Minn.), but the Tommies responded with nine unanswered points and led by double digits for the remainder of the game. St. Thomas grabbed its largest lead of the game at 71-46 with 1:50 remaining en route to a 18-point victory.
Brody Ziegler (Sr., Mankato, Minn.) led the team offensively as he was the only Gustie to reach double-digit figures with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, and added two free throws. Alec Koster (Jr., Redwood Falls, Minn.) led the Black and Gold after the first half with seven points and four rebounds, followed by senior teammate Chris Narum (Eagan, Minn.) with eight points including two from long range.
Grant Shaeffer and Taylor Montero led the Tommies offense with 16 points each.
St. Thomas shot 55.3 percent opposed to the Gusties who were limited to 42.6 percent. The Tommies forced 20 turnovers compared to seven on the other end.
The Gusties return to MIAC action at 1 p.m. Saturday at Hamline University.