ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s basketball team dropped a heartbreaking double overtime Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest Saturday to Macalester, 95-91. The Gusties erased a 10-point deficit in the second half to force the extra period but were unable to find a rhythm in the extra frames as the Scots came out on top, dropping the home team to 3-13 overall and 3-8 in the MIAC. Macalester improves to 6-10 overall and 2-9 in the league.
“The second overtime we got ourselves in a hole with turnovers,” Head Coach Mark Hanson said. “I think we have six or seven guys that have a play they’d love to have over.”
Gustavus led by as much as 13 points at the 8:27 mark of the first half, but the Scots were able to fight back and cut the deficit to three, 37-34, at halftime. The visitors rolled their momentum into the second, grabbing a 56-46 advantage at the 13:01 mark. Gustavus started its comeback with 7:30 remaining in regulation by scoring seven straight points. The Scots maintained a slim lead for the next five-plus minutes, but with 1:08 on the game clock and the shot clock winding down, Riley Sharbono (So., Marshall, Minn.) buried a fade-away three to tie the game 69-69. Macalester made a layup on the next possession to regain the lead, but Sharbono again connected on a jumper to tie the game and eventually send it to overtime at 71-71.
The Gusties came out strong in the extra period, leading 82-77 with 20 seconds remaining, but the Scots continued to fight and finished the first overtime on a 6-1 run, capped by a Michael Gutierrez three-pointer to tie the game with five seconds left. In the second overtime, the Gusties shot 2-for-7 from the field and committed a pair of turnovers, allowing the Scots to take the lead and hold on for the win.
“I’ve said over the years that there aren’t many bad teams in this league, there are just good teams with bad records and unfortunately we’re one of them,” Hanson said. “There really aren’t many games that you’ll know what the outcome will be at the beginning so we’re going to continue to do the best we can.”
Sharbono led the Gusties with a career-high 32 points on 10-of-23 shooting from the field, including 6-of-9 free throws. Jason Faul (Jr., Prior Lake, Minn.) and Spencer Tollefson (So., New Richland, Minn.) also reached double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively. The Scots were led by Kareem Ismail with 34 points and 14 rebounds. Gutierrez added 25 points.
Gustavus next travels to Concordia for a 7:45 p.m. game Wednesday.