SAINT PETER, Minn. - The Gustavus men's basketball team ended its five-game home stand with its fifth consecutive win Tuesday night, defeating Bethany Lutheran 93-71 at Gus Young Court. The Gusties improve to 8-2 overall, marking the best 10-game start to a season since the 2007-08 campaign.
After trading the lead four times in the opening two minutes, Bethany went on a 10-3 run, highlighted by an and-one opportunity and a three-pointer for a 20-13 advantage. The Gusties answered with an 11-2 run on consecutive threes by
Brady Kienitz and
Wyatt Olson, and a layup by
Spencer Swanson to take a 24-22 lead. After a Viking three to regain the lead,
Evan Wieker fired back from long range to take back the advantage and the Gusties stayed in front the rest of the way.
The Gusties forced a Viking timeout after Wieker hit another three, forced a turnover on the ensuing possession, and scored on the other end with a fast break layup by Swanson for a 42-31 lead. After 20 minutes, the Gusties led 44-35, led by Wieker's 4-of-7 shooting from downtown.
Gustavus continued to add to its lead in the second half, going up 61-40 after a pair of
Carson Koch free throws at the 13:06 mark. Once again, Head Coach
Justin DeGrood was able to clear most of his bench in the final minutes. A corner three by
Connor Beauchamp with 57 seconds left gave the Gusties their largest lead of 24 points.
"All in all a good showing by our guys," DeGrood said. "I was really pleased with how we settled in defensively after the first quarter of play. Credit to Bethany as they are so tough to stop and are always applying pressure with their offense. But I thought our guys made some nice individual stands and limited their primary options. Offensively I loved our balance and our eagerness to share. It looked and felt like everyone was playing for Gustavus's best shot and didn't care who it came from. I think that really showed in our balanced scoring and statistical distribution. I'm proud of our guys for closing out the first semester of the season well and now they can really set their focus on finishing well academically with finals approaching and enjoying some much deserved time off with family and friends for the holidays before we return for a couple of trips to Iowa to finish our non-conference slate."
The Gusties shot 49.2 percent from the floor, led by Swanson with 19 points. Swanson also hauled in eight rebounds, increasing his career total to 626, which surpasses Jim Proeschel (1970-74) for seventh place in program history. Four other Gusties reached double figures, including Olson (13), Wieker (12),
Myles Barnette (12), and Kienitz (11), who made one three-pointer, which puts him in the program's top-10 for career three-pointers made (127-310, 40.9%).
The Gusties out-rebounded the Vikings 33-26, led by Olson with nine, including four on the offensive end. The Gusties also made 24-of-31 free throws.
Gustavus now has off for nearly two weeks before traveling to Coe College on Dec. 30 for a non-conference matchup.
