NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team completed a regular-season sweep of Gustavus Adolphus College, as six Oles scored at least nine points in an 84-67 victory on Saturday afternoon at Skoglund Center.
St. Olaf (10-11, 7-9 MIAC) recorded its second-best shooting performance of the season, shooting at a 51.6 percent (32-for-62) clip from the field and shot 50.0 percent (9-for-18) from behind the arc in the win. Gustavus (8-14, 8-9 MIAC) cut a 12-point deficit early in the second half to five on two occasions midway through the half before the Oles pulled away for the double-digit victory.
Senior Noah Beck shot 6-for-9 from the field on his way to a team-high 20 points for St. Olaf and added five assists and two steals. First year Michael Meriggioli pitched in with 14 points and five boards, while sophomore Joe Thursby hit three consecutive three-pointers to help the Oles put the Gusties away late on.
Junior Dominic Bledsoe contributed nine points, six rebounds and eight assists, while senior Nate Albers closed in on 1,000 career points with 10 in the loss. Albers is 10 points shy of becoming the 24th member of St. Olaf's 1,000-point club.
Logan Rezac poured in a game-high 21 points for Gustavus while shooting 7-for-10 from the field and 4-for-6 from three-point range. Jake Guse, Marten Morem and Peter Lindquist each scored 10 for the Gusties, who were outscored 40-22 in the paint in the game.
After a scoreless first two minutes, St. Olaf made four-straight shots to open up a 10-3 lead three and a half minutes in. A three-pointer by senior Travis Fauchald three minutes later gave the Oles their first double-digit lead of the game at 18-8.
St. Olaf took its largest lead of the half at 32-17 with 7:41 remaining in the half after a 12-for-20 (60.0 percent) shooting start to the game. The Oles made just one of their last 11 shots of the half but took a 37-28 lead at the break thanks to points from nine different players.
Beck scored nine points in the first four-plus minutes of the second half to help St. Olaf reclaim a double-digit-point lead. Gustavus hung around thanks to 11 points, including three three-pointers, from Rezac in the first six minutes of the half, as the Gusties cut a 12-point deficit to five on two occasions.
With the Oles leading 54-49 with 11:17 remaining, first year Jake Weber scored five-straight points to get St. Olaf's lead back to double figures. The Gusties closed the gap to six, 63-57, before Thursby made three consecutive three-pointers and Bledsoe added another to quickly push St. Olaf's lead to 75-58 with 5:02 to go.
St. Olaf remains just outside the MIAC Playoff spots, sitting a half game behind Gustavus, but owns the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Gusties by virtue of winning both head-to-head meetings. The Oles, who are also just one game behind Saint Mary's, travel to Concordia-Moorhead for a 5:15 start on Wednesday, Feb. 12.