MOORHEAD, Minn. – The No. 14 nationally ranked Gustavus Adolphus College men's basketball team battled the Concordia College Cobbers on the road Wednesday night in a conference contest. The Gusties won an 82-77 overtime thriller over the Cobbers to win their 12
th game in a row, improve to 14-1 overall, and remain undefeated atop the MIAC at 6-0.
The two teams traded leads through the early minutes of the game.
Max Buslee hit a three six minutes in to put the Gusties up by one at 9-8, starting an 11-0 run for Gustavus capped off by
Jake Schmitt three to put them up nine points at 17-8 midway through the first half.
The Cobbers started to rally, cutting the Gusties' lead down to just two points down 32-30 with a minute and a half to go in the opening half. Gustavus held a three-point lead at the half, up 37-34.
Concordia retook the lead in the opening two minutes of the second half up 38-37. The Gusties and Cobbers traded the lead back and forth over the following two minutes until Concordia hit a three to go up 45-42. The Cobbers built that lead up to as many as nine points, leading 57-48 with just over 10 minutes to go in regulation.
At that point, Gustavus started to rally. With just under six minutes to go in the second half, Schmitt landed a three-point shot to tie the game up at 59-59.
Connor Beauchamp gave the Gusties the lead with a layup on their next possession, a lead that would grow to five points up 64-59 with 4:14 to go. Concordia tied the game 64-64 with a 5-0 run, but
Isaac Matti responded with another huge Gustavus three to retake the lead with just 2:59 to go.
The Cobbers rallied to retake the lead again on a layup to go up 68-67 with 1:39 remaining. The Gusties then retook the lead with free throws and were up 70-68 with 11 seconds remaining, but a foul on a drive by Concordia gave the Cobbers free throws to tie the game up at 70-70, sending the game to overtime.
Concordia hit a three right out the gate in overtime to go up 73-70, but Gustavus responded with a 5-0 run to go up 75-73 with just 1:52 remaining on the clock. Once more the Cobbers tied the game at 75-75, but the Gusties retook the lead for the final time on a free throw and
Carson Koch put Gustavus up by three with a layup, leading 78-75 with just 18 seconds left. Concordia pulled to within one with a layup on the other end, but the Gusties hit their free throws in the final 10 seconds to secure the victory, 82-77.
Schmitt led the Gusties with 24 points, five rebounds, and four assists.
Obinna Izuora and
Andrew Quam followed with 13 points each.
Myles Barnette scored 11 and had a team-high three steals.
Up next for the Gusties is a return home to Saint Peter for a conference game against the Macalester College Scots on Saturday, January 17 at 3:00 p.m.
