The Gustavus men’s basketball team jumped out to a 25-2 lead and never looked back on its way to a convincing 83-48 win over Macalester in St. Peter on Wednesday night. Adam TeBrake scored 18 points as the Gusties improved to 18-6 overall and 13-6 in the MIAC. It was senior night at Gus Young Court as Coach Mark Hanson and the fans celebrated the careers of Adam TeBrake, Trent Hollerich, and John Wippler all who played their final regular season home game for the Gusties.
The Gusties jumped out to a big lead against a Macalester squad that went 1-for-9 from the field and turned the ball over 12 times in the first 10 minutes of the game. The result was a commanding 19-2 Gustie lead with 10:04 left in the first half. Gustavus continued to score at will and built its lead to 25 points at 40-15 with 2:31 left in the half. The Gusties took a 44-17 lead into the locker room at halftime. Macalester made 7-of-23 shots from the field (30.4 percent), while the Gusties converted 18-of-31 shots (58.1 percent). Macalester committed 13 turnovers compared to eight for the Gusties and Gustavus outrebounded the Scots 23 to 11. Andrew Doble led the Gusties with 11 points, followed by Jay Stien with 10.
In the second half, Gustavus continued to pull away increasing its lead to 36 points at 64-28 with 11:56 left in the game. The Gusties made nine of their first 11 shots in the second half. Macalester used a 12-2 run to cut the lead to 26 at 66-40 with 8:19 left, but that is as close as the Scots would get. Gustavus held its biggest lead of the game at 37 points (83-46) with 4:14 left on the clock. The two teams would combine to score only two points in the final four minutes to make the final score 83-48.
Adam TeBrake scored 18 points to lead the Gusties. He pushed his career total to 997 making it likely that he will score his 1,000th career point at Saint John’s on Saturday afternoon. Others in double figures for Gustavus included Andrew Doble with a career high 15, Jay Stien with 12, Trevor Wittwer with 11, and Phil Sowden with 10. The Gusties also welcomed back junior guard Andrew Olson who had missed the last five games with a meniscus tear. Olson played nine minutes and scored two points. Gustavus shot 62.5 percent from the field for the game (35-56). It is the sixth time this season that the Gusties have shot over 60 percent in a game. Gustavus is shooting 52.3 percent from the field as a team which ranks fourth in all of Division III and is on pace to break the school record for team field goal percentage in a season which is 51.7 percent set in the 1974-75 season.
Macalester was led by Brendan Bosman who scored 11 points. Gustavus, which outrebounded the Scots 37-23, has now outrebounded its opponents 177-112 (+65) during its five-game win streak.
Gustavus will now play Saint John’s in Collegeville on Saturday with the winner earning the right to be the #3 seed in the MIAC Playoffs. The Gusties slipped by the Johnnies 65-64 in St. Peter on January 18. The winner of Saturday’s game will host Hamline (the #6 seed), while the loser will host Bethel (the #5 seed) in the first round of the MIAC Playoffs. Both games will take place next Tuesday, February 21 at 7:00 pm.
Gustavus will be making its sixth consecutive appearance in the MIAC post-season tournament and its 16th appearance in the 22-year history of the MIAC Playoffs.