WINONA, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s basketball team earned its third consecutive Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory Wednesday evening, defeating Saint Mary’s University 69-62 to complete the series sweep.
The Gusties, now 9-5 overall and 7-2 during MIAC play, shot 27-for-56 from the field (48.2%), led by a 20-point performance from Riley Sharbono (Jr., Marshall, Minn.).
Gustavus and Saint Mary’s had identical field goal numbers during the first 20 minutes, both shooting 11-28 in the first half.
The game opened with several lead changes through the first 10 minutes, with the Cardinals gaining a 16-13 lead with 8:41 remaining, their largest lead of the half. The visitors countered on a 15-6 run to take a six-point lead of their own as the scoreboard read 28-22 Gustavus with 1:56 remaining. Saint Mary’s closed out the half on a 6-0 run to tie the game at 28-28 heading into the intermission.
“We were sloppy in the first half with turnovers and took some shots that weren’t conducive to being successful,” said Head Coach Mark Hanson. “I thought we played better as a team in the second half both offensively and defensively.”
While the home team out-rebounded the Gusties 22-17 in the second half, Gustavus shot 57.1 percent (16-28) from the field while limiting the Cardinals to 37.1 percent shooting.
The Black and Gold opened the second half strong, forcing a Saint Mary’s timeout after a 13-5 advantage at the 15:19 minute mark, led by five-straight Gustie field goals. Gustavus held on to at least a five-point lead for the remainder of the game, claiming its largest lead of the game at 61-50 with a CJ Woda (Fy., Maple Grove, Minn.) layup with 4:33 remaining.
Sharbono shot 6-10 from the field and 7-9 from the charity stripe for his first 20-point game since Dec. 6 at Augsburg. Brandon Snoberger (Jr., Rice, Minn.) improved upon his career-high performance at Macalester with a career-best 14 points, shooting 7-8 from the field. Jason Faul (Sr., Prior Lake, Minn.) followed with 12 points and a team-high six rebounds.
“It was good for Sharbono to see shots go in, he needed that mentally after coming back from an injury,” Hanson commented. “Snoberger has put together some good games recently, he rebounded well and played strong on the ball, so that was good to see.”
Gustavus remains on the road for another conference game on Saturday afternoon, traveling to Arden Hills, Minn. to take on Bethel University. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. at Robertson Center Gym.