ST. PETER, MINN – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s basketball team defeated Bethany Lutheran College 85-50 in a Tuesday evening game played on Gus Young Court. With the victory, Gustavus moves to 3-1 overall, while Bethany Lutheran drops to 0-3.
“We did a terrific job of sharing the ball and working to get great shots,” said assistant coach Justin DeGrood. “We worked the ball inside, had great cutters and did a nice job of passing it back out for open jumpers which really made for some terrific team basketball. Defensively, we did a nice job of containing the ball on penetration and forcing them to make contested jumpers from the perimeter. I also though our guys did a nice job of pressuring them to play quicker than they would have liked to force a number of turnovers.”
Gustavus led 12-10 with 10:57 remaining in the first half and proceeded to go on runs of 13-0 and 14-6 that would put them in front 38-16 at the halfway mark. Gustavus would go on to outscore the Vikings 47-34 in the second half to take home the 85-40 victory.
Gary Cooper (Jr., Detroit, Mich) put up 17 points to lead Gustavus in scoring, with Peter Kruize (So., St. Peter, Minn.) coming in with 12 and Sergio Najera (Jr., New Prague, Minn.) and Coleman Sweeney (So., Lake City, Minn.) tallying 10 apiece to help Gustavus shoot 61.9-percent from the floor. First-year Jacob Herd (Waconia, Minn.) also had a notable evening with six points, the first points of his career.
Gustavus will play its next game on Wed., Dec. 3 against the University of St. Thomas, last season’s MIAC regular season champions, for its first conference game of the season. DeGrood believes the Gusties have a number of things to improve in the next week to prepare for that game.
“We need to keep working on being sharp with the ball, taking care of it and moving crisply on offense,” said DeGrood. “Defensively, we need to keep working on playing fast and free and making sure our helpers and rotations happen quicker.”
Tip-off with the Tommies is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Gus Young Court.