NORTHFIELD, Minn. - The Gustavus men's basketball team rolled to an 83-55 win over St. Olaf on Wednesday, completing the series sweep while improving to 20-3 overall and 14-0 in the MIAC. The Gusties have now reached the 20-win mark in the regular season for the first time since the 2004-05 season and have won 11 straight games. 

St. Olaf gained an early 4-0 lead to start the game but it was short lived. Adam Biewen and Spencer Swanson made a couple buckets to tie the game and then a three by Biewen 2:31 into the first half gave the Gusties the lead for good. Gustavus went on a 13-3 run midway through the half for a 14-point lead and never looked back. 

Trailing 37-24 at half, St. Olaf was able to cut the deficit down to nine points on four occasions, but the Gusties responded with consecutive threes from Swanson and Jake Schmitt to regain a double-digit advantage. A three by Eli Wolff with 4:25 on the clock gave the Gusties their largest lead of the game at 79-46 and Head Coach Justin DeGrood was able to clear his bench for the rest of the game. 

Gustavus shot 45.2 percent from the floor and made 10-of-27 three-pointers. The visitors out-rebounded the Oles 47-36 and limited the turnovers to eight. 

Wyatt Olson led the way with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including six rebounds. Biewen added 10 points. Brady Kienitz shot 3-for-7 from long range, surpassing Riley Sharbono '19 for fifth place in program history with 156 career three-pointers made. 

"Our group talks every day about the importance of daily growth," said DeGrood. "The idea that today's effort will make tomorrow's team better. I feel like our group's effort and determination tonight helped us move the needle. I thought Wyatt was a real anchor for us on offense with his paint presence that really allowed our group to have a balanced attack. So many guys produced and led in a variety of statistics that it's hard to just highlight one or two. As a group I thought we passed and shared well, were absolutely relentless on the offensive rebounds, showed grit in the 50-50 loose ball situations and largely kept dribblers in front and forced tough jump shots over the top of a contest." 

"We will enjoy this result tonight and then get back to work for the next one. Saturday should be a tremendous battle and opportunity for our group that will allow us to keep getting better. Our program is really proud to be competing in highly meaningful games in February and hope our fans can get out to watch two terrific MIAC teams compete for a title and to honor our men on Senior Day."

Gustavus now has its biggest game of the season Saturday afternoon, hosting No. 6 Saint John's (20-2, 13-0 MIAC) in a battle of MIAC unbeaten teams that will likely determine the conference champion. 
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