NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s basketball team traveled to Northfield on Saturday afternoon and picked up a solid 69-61 victory over Carleton. With the win the Gusties move to 5-7 overall and 2-5 in the MIAC while Carleton falls to 3-8 and 1-5 in conference play.
“This was an important win for us coming off a poor performance at St. Thomas,” said coach Mark Hanson. “From a confidence standpoint we just needed to play good basketball and we had some moments of playing good basketball. Obviously we gave up too many points in the second half and we didn’t defend as well, but they just went at us with [Kent] Hanson and it was a good idea because he’s a good player. The last eight minutes though we played him better and forced them to be jump shooters.”
The Gusties led the entirety of the first half and a lot of that was due to spectacular play from Nolan Malo (Fy., Owatonna, Minn.) who went 6-for-6 from the field and notched 14 points in the first 20 minutes. They played one of their better defensive halves of the season in the first half as they held Carleton to just 26 points and forced eight turnovers. Gustavus also shot 6-of-10 from behind the three point arc with five different players knocking down a three pointer en rout to 34-26 halftime lead.
In the second half Gustavus extended the lead to 10 at the 12:59 mark but then Carleton went on a 15-6 run over the next three and a half minutes to cut the lead to one. The Knights eventually tied the game at 54 and took a 57-56 lead the next possession after a Gustie basket that they answered with a three-pointer. The Gusties answered though as Malo scored a basket and made a free throw and Isaac Douglas (So., Montevideo, Minn.) made two huge jump shots down the stretch including a three to put Gustavus up 65-57 that all but sealed the deal. The Knights got the score within six two times late but the Gusties knocked down free throws down the stretch to close the game out.
Malo led all Gustie scorers with 17 points in the contest to go along with five rebounds. Douglas finished with 14 points, while Logan Rezac (So., Andover, Minn.) was the other Gustie in double figures with 10, all of which he scored in the second half.
The Gusties will next be in action on Monday when they host Augsburg for a 7 p.m. contest.