ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – Despite outscoring the Royals 29-28 in the second half, the Gustavus men’s basketball team wasn’t able to come back from an 11-point halftime deficit in a 72-62 loss at Bethel University Saturday afternoon.
The loss snaps a three-game win streak and drops the Gustavus record to 9-6 overall and 7-3 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Bethel’s three-point attack proved to be costly, with the Royals converting on 11-of-23 field goals from beyond the arc while shooting 50 percent from the field. The Gusties shot 39 percent (23-59) from the field and 4-23 from three-point range.
After a slow start, Gustavus found itself trailing 9-27 just over eight minutes into the game, forcing the Gusties to take their second timeout of the half. The Royals held a 21-17 advantage in rebounds over Gustavus in the first 20 minutes and made half of their three-point field goals to take a 44-33 lead into the intermission, the most points the Black and Gold have allowed in a half all season.
More poised defensively in the second half, Gustavus made a comeback push while shooting 12-12 from the charity stripe and eventually came within five points as a Kelsey Thomas (Sr., Wiesbaden, Germany) layup cut the Bethel lead to 57-52 with 6:03 remaining. However, the Royals didn’t allow the Gusties to come any closer and maintained a double-digit lead through the final five minutes.
Zach Bloemker (Fy., Marshall, Minn.) helped lead the second half comeback effort, shooting a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line to finish with 10 points off the bench. Thomas led Gustavus with 15 points off of 7-12 shooting, followed by 12 points from Riley Sharbono (Jr., Marshall, Minn.).
The Gusties return to Gus Young Court on Wednesday evening, hosting Augsburg University for a 7 p.m. tipoff. Gustavus previously defeated the Auggies in Minneapolis, Minn. 64-62 in early December.