A late second half surge allowed the Gustavus men’s basketball team to defeat Hamline 73-66 on Saturday afternoon in St. Peter, Minn.
Phil Wirtjes and Seth Anderson led the Gusties in scoring with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Hamline’s Ray Brown scored a game high 26 points on 9-21 shooting. The Gusties will enter Wednesday night’s contest with #5 ranked St. Thomas 7-0 in the MIAC and 9-3 overall.
Hamline took an early lead in the game, going up 7-2 on a layup by Ray Brown, yet the Gusties battled back to take a two-point lead at 13-11 at the 12:57 mark. The Pipers would go on a scoring run midway through the first half, taking an 11-point lead at 27-16 with under seven minutes remaining in the half. The Gusties tightened down their defense late in the half cutting the double-digit lead to four at 35-31 in favor of the Pipers at the intermission. Ray Brown led all scorers in the half with 15 points on 6-11 shooting. Hamline shot 51.9% (14-27) from the field in the half as Gustavus shot 46.4% (13-28).
Hamline was in control for the early minutes of the second half, building it’s lead to seven points by the 16:19 mark. A layup by Seth Anderson three minutes later tied the game at 44-44, however, Hamline would not relinquish the lead until the 6:59 mark. A layup by Paul Blacklock gave Gustavus the 54-52 lead, yet two free throws by Jordan Schmidt tied the game back up just 11 seconds later. There were seven lead changes in under four minutes of play before a three-pointer by Anderson with 3:41 remaining would give Gustavus the final lead of the game. Hamline had a chance to tie the game with less than thirty seconds remaining, yet solid Gustavus ball pressure on the perimeter did not allow Hamline to get a good look at a game tying three pointer. Gustavus outshot Hamline 61.5% (16-26) to 45.5% (10-22) in the half. 11 of Seth Anderson’s 15 points came in the second half as he went 5-6 from the field in the half.
The Gusties shot 53.7% (29-54) in the game and 55.6% (5-9) from behind the three point line. Hamline shot 49% (24-49) from the field and 31.3% (5-16) from three point range. The Gusties out-rebounded Hamline 35 to 20 in the game as Ryan McPartland registered seven boards while Mychal Crowder came off the bench to tally six rebounds and six points. Bench scoring proved to be the difference in the second half as the Gustie bench outscored Hamline’s 21-2.
The Gustavus men’s basketball team will play host to St. Thomas on Wednesday January 13, at 7:30 p.m. in St. Peter, Minn.