Gary Cooper led the Gusties in points for the third time in the past four games, scoring 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting.
Gustavus 71, Saint Mary’s 62 (Box)
WINONA, Minn. – In a game in which it never trailed, the Gustavus Adolphus College men’s basketball team earned a 71-62 victory over Saint Mary’s University on Monday evening at Saint Mary’s Gym. The Gusties scored the game’s opening basket and saw the Cardinals tie the game twice, but did enough to put Saint Mary’s away at the game’s end. With the win, Gustavus improves to 7-10 overall and 4-8 in the MIAC, while Saint Mary’s falls to 6-10 and 4-8 in the conference.
As he has done in three of the Gusties’ past four games, senior Gary Cooper (Detroit, Mich.) led Gustavus in scoring, tallying 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Fellow seniors Brody Ziegler (Mankato, Minn.) and Brian Jacobs (Lake Crystal, Minn.) were also efficient, scoring 16 and 12 points on 7-of-8 and 5-of-8 shooting, respectively. Jacobs also tied for the team lead in rebounds with Peter Kruize (Jr., St. Peter, Minn.), as each grabbed six. As a team, Gustavus shot over 50 percent for the third game in a row, as it went 51.9 percent (27-for-52) from the floor.
After scoring the game’s opening basket and building their lead to 10 (30-20) with 5:58 to play in the first half, the Gusties eventually went into halftime up seven at 35-28. Following halftime, the Cardinals opened the second half with a free-throw, but Jacobs answered with a three-pointer to give Gustavus a nine-point, 38-29 advantage.
However, the Cardinals had more left in the tank and clawed their way to a 40-40 tie with 14:30 remaining in the game, capping an 11-2 run by the home team. Gustavus wouldn’t let Saint Mary’s ever lead though, and rattled off six unanswered points, and pushed its lead to nine on six separate occasions during the remainder of the half, including a 62-53 cushion with three minutes to play.
A Cardinal three-pointer from Braden Walbeck and a jumper from Will Swiggum brought Saint Mary’s back to within four with 1:28 to go, but Gustavus scored five of its final nine points from the free-throw line to seal the eventual nine-point victory, the 12th straight for Gustavus over Saint Mary’s dating back to Jan. 27, 2010.
Swiggum finished with a team-high 17 points for the Cardinals, while Wylie Ferron chipped in 14 points and Quashingm Smith-Pugh added 11.
Gustavus will not have much time to recover, as it hosts Bethel University (12-4, 7-4 MIAC) on Wednesday in a 7 p.m. game at Gus Young Court.