ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s basketball team put itself in a hole during the first half Saturday against Hamline, scoring a season-low 20 points in the first 20 minutes, and couldn’t dig all the way out, suffering a 68-63 loss at Gus Young Court. The loss drops the Gusties to 5-16 overall and 5-11 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, while the Pipers improve to 12-9 overall and 9-7 in the league.
“We battled for about 18 minutes, but not the other 22,” Head Coach Mark Hanson said. “You can’t go out and do what we did offensively in the first half and feel bad about missing a few shots at the end that could’ve won it. It was a disappointing display.”
Gustavus shot just 29.6 percent (8-27) in the first half and trailed 28-20 at the end of the first 20 minutes. Hamline increased its lead to 37-27, its largest of the game, 2:35 into the second half, and held and maintained a two-to-three possession lead for the next six minutes. The Gusties cut the lead to three, 50-47, at the 10:38 mark, but the Pipers continued to hold the advantage and jumped back out to a seven-point lead. It wasn’t until the 4:54 mark that the Gusties would take their first lead of the game at 58-57 as Riley Sharbono (So., Marshall, Minn.) made a nice pass down low for an open Schuyler Thompson (Jr., Millville, Minn.) layup.
Hamline was able to tie the score twice over the next three minutes and eventually regained the lead, 63-62, with 1:21 remaining. The Black and Gold went 0-for-4 from the field the rest of the game and the visitors completed the series sweep with the five –point win.
Four Pipers reached double digits, led by Zach Smith’s 19 points. No Gusties reached double figures as Kelsey Thomas (Jr., Wiesbaden, Germany) scored a team-high nine points. Austin Goetz (Jr., Chaska, Minn.) added eight rebounds and seven points.
“Other than the fact that we put them at the free throw line too much, we played well defensively,” Hanson said. “Our defense was fairly solid and they put a lot of pressure on us with dribble penetration, but we put ourselves in a hole offensively.”
Gustavus next hosts St. Olaf at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Oles won game one of the series 69-65 on Dec. 7 in Northfield, Minn.