ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s basketball team took to the road on Wednesday and was defeated by St. Thomas 97-53. With the loss the Gusties fall to 4-7 overall and 1-5 in MIAC play while the Tommies move to 9-1 overall and 5-0 in the conference.
After a slow start to the game that saw the Tommies leading 6-3 with 15:55 to play, St. Thomas went on a big run in the first half when a layup at the 11:05 mark capped off their 12-0 spree. After Nolan Malo (Fy., Owatonna, Minn.) hit a three pointer on the Gusties first possession of the game, they went on a cold spell and Malo’s layup eight and a half minutes later ended the scoreless drought and made the score 18-5.
The rest of the first half was all Tommies as they outscored the Gusties 54-18 in the opening 20 minutes and made it tough on the Gusties early. In the half St. Thomas shot 58.8 percent from the field and 62.5 percent from the field while the Gusties shot 20 percent and had a three point percentage of 15.4.
After a tough first half the Gusties came out in the second half and outshot the Tommies in field goal percentage 51.6 to 50.0. Vannis Smith (Jr., Crystal Lake, Ill.) had a solid half for the Gusties as he tallied eight points on 4-5 shooting.
The Gusties will next be in action on Saturday when they head to Carleton for a 3 p.m. contest.