Riley Sharbono (Photo courtesy of Jake Noel, Gustavus Sports Information)
ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s basketball team defeated St. Olaf 67-62 Saturday afternoon at Gus Young Court, snapping a 10-game losing streak against the Oles for a second consecutive Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory.
The Gusties, now 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the conference, out-rebounded St. Olaf 41-29 and shot 25-for-57 from the field during their first win over the Oles since Dec. 3, 2012.
“I don’t know that any single thing stood out,” said Head Coach Mark Hanson. “The coach in me says we made a lot of mistakes, but we had some toughness and had some big boards when we needed to. We just accumulated enough.”
The Gusties got off to a nice start in the first half, claiming multiple 12-point leads, their largest margin of the game. However, the Oles pushed back in the final seven minutes, going on a 14-4 run to cut the Gustavus lead to 34-32 at the half.
Jason Faul (Sr., Prior Lake, Minn.) and Riley Sharbono (Jr., Marshall, Minn.) led the Gustavus offense with 16 points each. Kelsey Thomas (Sr., Wiesbaden, Germany) also added 10 points and led the team with eight rebounds.
“We were hitting our shots today,” Faul said. “We were feeling pretty good, we were confident, and it showed in the end.”
Gustavus increased its field goal percentage slightly in the second half despite allowing St. Olaf to earn just its second lead of the game early in the second frame. Down 50-51 near the midway point of the second half, the Gusties then went on a 17-11 run to close out the game.
“There is no such thing as an un-nice win, they’re all nice, but this one without question, feels good,” Hanson commented. “We haven’t beaten them for a while. Hopefully this gives us some confidence and maturity as we move through the rest of the season.”
The Gusties continue conference play next week, heading to Minneapolis, Minn. on Wednesday, taking on Augsburg University.