Isaac Douglas battles for a loose ball with Tim Jeffries in the season opening loss. (photo courtesy of David Faulkner, SPX Sports)
SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s basketball team opened its 2019-20 campaign against Buena Vista on Friday night with a 96-73 loss at Gus Young Court.
“The 22 turnovers and 12 steals on their part means that we are making bad choices on offense,” Head Coach Mark Hanson said. “If you give a team that many more extra opportunities, especially a team that runs the floor as well as they do, then it builds. We didn’t react well and gave up too many offensive rebounds. They got in a flow and we didn’t do anything to stop them.”
After the Gusties got out to a quick start by making their first four shots to jump up 8-4, the Beavers started to heat up. After two scoreless minutes following the early Black and Gold lead, Buena Vista found the bottom of the net, going on a 17-4 run over the course of 5:28 to gain a 21-12 edge.
Isaac Douglas (Jr., Montevideo) shortly thereafter buried a three and Jake Guse (So., Waseca) would put down a two-handed dunk and that seemed to swing momentum toward Gustavus. With the Gusties trailing 26-17, they scored on four of their next five possessions to bring the score to 29-25 with 6:57 to play in the first half.
Buena Vista put a stop to the run by Gustavus and swung right back with a big blow of its own. The Beavers put up 10-straight points to extend their lead to 39-25 thanks to four buckets in the paint as well as a pair of free throws. CJ Woda (Jr., Maple Grove) then scored four straight points and fellow juniors Logan Rezac (Jr., Andover) and Douglas would get a layup and three-pointer, respectively, to bring the home team back within five at 39-34 with 2:15 remaining in the half.
Buena Vista knocked down one more three to bring its first half total to five, and Gustavus would get a two with time winding down, as the teams headed to the half with BVU holding a 42-36 advantage. The Gusties were 15-of-34 (44.1 percent) from the field in the first half, while the Beavers went 14-for-32 (43.75 percent).
In the second half, the two teams played even early on, each scoring five points in the first 1:26 of play as Buena Vista held a 47-41 lead. From there though, the Beavers got hot from the field and didn’t look back. Over the course of the next 5:47 the visitors went on a 19-2 run, making eight of 11 shots, while the Gusties were 0-for-5 during the same time span with seven turnovers.
With BVU leading 66-43, the Gusties finally started to find their rhythm scoring eight straight points to cut the deficit to 15, but the Beavers offense got cooking late. Buena Vista closed out the final 10 minutes of the game, outscoring the Gusties 30-22 to take a 96-73 victory. Buena Vista shot 56.8 percent (21-of-37) in the second half, while the Gusties shot 47.8 percent (12-of-23). Gustavus had 13 turnovers in the half, and 22 in the game, while the Pointers had six in the half and 13 in the game.
“Quite honestly I’m surprised by most of it,” Hanson said. “We’ve struggled with turnovers for a while and the best thing that will come out of this will be the video to see what we did and how we did it, and make those corrections because they are very real and in front of us right now.”
Douglas and Rezac led the Gusties with 13 points apiece, with Douglas adding four rebounds and assists. Guse added nine points to go along with a team-high eight rebounds.
The Gusties are next in action on Nov. 16 when they return to Gus Young Court for a 3 p.m. contest with Luther.