ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s basketball team scored the first basket of Wednesday night’s game against Saint Mary’s University and never relinquished the lead, resulting in a 69-57 victory to begin MIAC play. With the win, the Gusties improve to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference.
“I think it is important to always expect to win, even if you’re not thrilled with all the things that take part during the win,” Head Coach Mark Hanson said. “I thought Saint Mary’s played very hard. They have some very effective players, so to build a lead and play solid in some areas I’m certainly pleased with, but 15 turnovers are far too many and the type of turnovers they were is disappointing. To be out-rebounded is disappointing, too, but I can live with the outcome.”
Brody Ziegler (Sr., Mankato, Minn.) and Jacob Herd (So., Waconia, Minn.) led the Gusties with 13 points apiece. Ziegler shot 6-of-11 from the floor and added five rebounds. Herd’s 13 points are a career-high, while he also hauled in a team-best six rebounds. Riley Sharbono (Fy., Marshall, Minn.) also posted double figures with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting, including 2-of-2 from beyond the arc.
The Gusties built an 8-2 lead to start the game, forcing Saint Mary’s to take a timeout 1:45 in. The two teams traded points throughout the following four minutes until Gustavus went on a 7-3 run with Chris Narum (Sr., Eagan, Minn.) getting a steal and a layup to put the Gusties ahead 22-12 with 11 minutes to play in the first. The Cardinals were able to cut the deficit to five points at 24-19 at the 8:36 mark, but the Black and Gold responded with six unanswered points and an 11-4 run to take its largest lead of the half at 35-23 with four minutes remaining. Saint Mary’s battled back with a 7-3 run to close out the half and the Gusties went into the locker room with a 38-30 lead.
The second half went back and forth as Gustavus led by as few as eight points (40-32, 19:02) and as many as 14 (five times) after 13 minutes of play. The Gusties took their largest lead of the game at 63-47 in dramatic fashion as Ziegler broke free for a two-handed dunk with 6:26 to play. Gustavus was then able to hold off the Cardinals and came away with a 12-point victory.
The Gusties shot 49.2-percent (29-59) from the floor, including 7-for-16 from three-point range, and made 4-of-8 free throws. The Cardinals were held to a 41.1-percent (23-56) shooting rate and made 6-of-15 three-pointers. Gustavus tallied a season-high 12 steals, leading to 20 points off turnovers. Rebounding was close as Saint Mary’s edged the Gusties 34-33.
Gustavus begins a three-game road stretch at 1 p.m. Saturday at Augsburg (3-1, 0-1 MIAC).
“We are going to have to rebound better and be more physical than we were tonight,” Hanson said. “Augsburg is a strong team in so many ways. We’ve got a tough stretch coming up so we are going to do the cliché one-game-at-a-time.”