NORTHFIELD, MINN. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s basketball team continued its hot streak with a 63-57 victory over Carleton College on Wednesday evening at West Gym. The win is the fifth straight for the Gusties who now own a record of 2-0 in the MIAC and 6-1 overall, while Carleton moves to 1-2 in the MIAC and 3-4 overall.
Gustavus jumped out to an 11-0 lead to begin the game, but Carleton managed to chip away throughout the first half, highlighted by a 14-6 run in the last 10:07 to give the Knights a 29-27 lead at halftime.
Following halftime, Carleton maintained its small lead, but Gustavus managed to keep the game close. The Knights’ lead didn’t climb above three, and with 8:33 remaining in the game, the Gusties retook the lead for good on a layup from Isaac Tapp (Sr., Stewartville, Minn.).
Sergio Najera (Jr., New Prague, Minn.) was again the leader of the Gustie offense, scoring a team-high 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting, with nine of those coming in the second half. Peter Kruize (So., St. Peter, Minn.) was next in line for Gustavus, scoring 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting and nabbing six rebounds.
Carleton leading scorer Tianen Chen led the Knights with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Kevin Grow followed Chen with a near double-double, scoring nine points on 3-of-3 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds.
After shooting 66-percent in its past game, the Gusties only managed to shoot 44.6-percent against Carleton, but was 92.3-percent from the free-throw line (12-of-13). The Knights shot 48.8-percent, but were only 62.5-percent from the charity stripe (9-of-16).
Gustavus will play its final game in 2014 on Saturday when they welcome Hamline University to Gus Young Court. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.