Saturday men: H-SC, SJU fall

More news about: Gustavus Adolphus | Roanoke
Feb 15, 2025
Gustavus Adolphus's Evan Wieker throws one down with 14 seconds left to put the capper on a 66-62 win against No. 6 St. John's.
Photo by Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com
 

There will be a little additional churn at the top of the D3hoops.com men's basketball Top 25 when it next comes out on Monday, as both No. 4 Hampden-Sydney and No. 6 St. John's fell on Saturday afternoon.

Wyatt Olson scored a game-high 20 points, including giving his team the lead in the closing minutes with a slam dunk, as Gustavus Adolphus won its 12th consecutive game, coming from behind to knock off No. 6 St. John's by a 66-62 score. It's the only game that these two top contenders play in the regular season this year in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's new unbalanced schedule, and it was played on Gustavus's home court in front of an announced crowd of 2,347.

The Johnnies, who entered the game on a 16-game win streak, had led by six points earlier in the half after a pull-up jumper by Ryan Thissen put St. John's up 50-44. But the Gusties (21-3, 15-0 MIAC) chipped away at the lead, finally going on top after Wyatt Olson's dunk with 3:42 left. Thissen answered with a jumper on the other end, but Wieker came back with a pull-up in the paint to give the Gusties the lead for good. Kyle Johnson hit two free throws to cut the lead to one, but the Johnnies missed on two offensive opportunities the next time down the floor, allowing Jake Schmitt to hit a deep three to make the lead 63-59. St. John's hung tight before Wieker threw down the game-capper with 14 seconds to go.

The Gustavus win snaps a 15-game losing streak for the Golden Gusties against St. John's.

"I'm just really happy for our guys," said Gustavus coach Justin DeGrood. "This group, especially on senior day, has worked really hard to play in meaningful games like this, and I'm just excited for our guys right now more than anything."

Roanoke scored 15 of the first 17 points at home against No. 4 Hampden-Sydney but had to hold on down the stretch to defeat the Tigers, 81-72. Hampden-Sydney (20-4, 13-2 ODAC) led 40-39 at half and 56-49 with 13:20 to play before Joshua McClary provided the fuel for a 13-0 run, scoring nine of his team's points in that span, to make it 62-56. McClary finished with a game-high 23 points, while Gavin O'Malley added 16 points and nine rebounds.

Keeshawn Jones hit one of two free throws with two seconds remaining on the clock to lead Western Connecticut to a thrilling 74-73 win over No. 21 Keene State. The win was the eighth in a row for the Wolves, whose last loss was a 110-62 setback against the Owls on Jan. 16. Keene State rallied from a 19-point second-half deficit to tie the game at 70 with 1:08 remaining, and they tied it again as Mitch Shettles hit a three from the corner with 24 seconds left to tie it at 73. WestConn dribbled the ball for a last second shot when Jones was fouled near the baseline with two seconds left. He sank the second free throw and the Owls failed to get off a last second shot from half court, cementing the upset win.

Top-ranked Wesleyan made it to the end of its conference regular season unscathed, as the Cardinals improved to 24-0, 10-0 in the NESCAC with a 91-64 win at Colby. Oscar Edelman came off the bench to provide 16 points in just 12 minutes on 6-for-7 shooting, while Nicky Johnson scored 16 as well. The Cardinals await eighth-seeded Amherst on Feb. 22 in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC tournament. The rest of the quarterfinals: No. 7 Colby at No. 2 Trinity (Conn.), No. 6 Williams at No. 3 Tufts, No. 5 Connecticut College at No. 4 Hamilton.

UW-La Crosse clinched a first-round bye in the WIAC tournament and improved to 19-4 overall as the Eagles won 75-69 at UW-Oshkosh. UWL, winners of three straight games, took its largest lead of 14 points at 69-55 with 6:32 left on a Grieger layup. UW-Oshkosh (12-11, 3-9) used a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 69-64 with 3:52 remaining, but Karter Thomas' three-pointer extended UWL's lead to 72-64 with 2:17 left. The Titans could get no closer than four points the rest of the game. Thomas had a team-high 15 points.

No. 17 WPI won its 13th consecutive game and wrapped up the 2025 NEWMAC regular season title as the Engineers defeated the MIT Engineers 72-53. Justin Molen led the WPI Engineers with 18 points and eight boards, while Aidan Callahan tallied 15 points and four assists. WPI (21-2, 13-1 NEWMAC) has won the past four regular season crowns outright in the NEWMAC.

Peter Gorman played all 50 minutes and scored a career-high 39 points as his Ramapo Roadrunners outlasted Stockton 97-95 in double overtime on Saturday afternoon. The win allowed Ramapo (18-6, 12-5 NJAC to keep pace one game behind Montclair State in the NJAC standings, and pull into a tie with Stockton, which fell to 17-7, 12-5 in conference play. TCNJ is 19-5, 12-5 as well. Ramapo had a chance to win the game in regulation, but Stockton erased a 10-point deficit in the final 4:35, with EJ Mathews-Spratley hitting a three-pointer to send the game into OT.

Drew extended its winning streak to 12 consecutive games and defeated Catholic for the third straight time as the Rangers clinched the top seed in the Landmark Conference tournament, defeating the Cardinals 77-70. Peso Crump tied a season-high with 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Drew, which pulled away late to break open a nailbiter. With the score tied 61-61, Josh Kline and Malcolm Newman dropped in back-to-back buckets as Drew went up by four. The Cardinals hit a pair of free throws to edge within 65-63 with 2:31 remaining, but Newman answered with perhaps the two biggest shots of the game – a 3-pointer from the right wing with 1:37 left and a driving layup with 57 ticks showing to put his team up 70-63. The win also gave the Rangers their fourth 20-win season in team history, all of which have come in the Landmark Conference era.