ST. PAUL, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team held off a furious rally from host Hamline University over the final six-plus minutes of the game to escape with a 58-55 victory on Wednesday evening at Hutton Arena.
St. Olaf (12-12, 11-8 MIAC) held a 58-36 lead with 6:34 remaining after a three-pointer by senior Sam Stensgard, but Hamline (11-13, 8-11 MIAC) held the Oles scoreless from that point on. The Pipers rattled off 19-straight points to get within three, 58-55, with 2:08 remaining before missing five three-pointers in the final 1:13 of the game, including two on the final possession.
Senior Austin Korba paced St. Olaf with a game-high 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting and also contributed five rebounds, three steals and a block. Junior Noah Beck tallied 12 points and six rebounds, while Stensgard and classmate Frank Delaney each added nine points. Delaney also corralled seven rebounds on the night.
Beck scored the game's first five points and the five points were the lone points on the board until Ethan Scheuring got Hamline on the board with a dunk 4:16 into the contest. Eight quick points from Korba in the span of 1:29 stretched St. Olaf's early lead to 12-4 with six minutes gone.
The Oles built a 12-point lead at 25-13 with 3:27 left in the half after back-to-back layups from Beck and Korba and took a 30-15 advantage into the locker room after limiting the Pipers to seven made field goals in the opening 20 minutes. Korba scored 11 of his 18 points in the first half, while Beck and junior Troy Diggins Jr. had seven apiece.
Consecutive layups from Delaney to start the second half pushed St. Olaf's lead to 19, 34-15, but Hamline hung around, cutting the deficit to 10, 40-30, with 12:40 remaining. The Oles responded with a 12-2 run to take a commanding 52-32 lead with 8:51 to go before the Pipers made it interesting late.
After Stensgard's three with 6:34 left, Michael Dillon hit back-to-back three-pointers for the Pipers to kick start the rally. Dillon and Jake Larson accounted for 17-straight points to bring the hosts within five, 58-53, with 2:30 to play.
An Isaac Brooks layup with 2:08 to go was the final points of the game, as Hamline missed its final six shots from the field, including five potential game-tying three-pointers down the stretch. Korba had a chase-down block with 1:35 remaining to help preserve the win, as the Oles held on despite turning it over on three of their final four possessions.
Dillon scored a team-high 14 points for the Pipers on 5-for-8 from the field and made 4-of-7 tries from behind the arc. Larson was the lone Hamline starter in double figures with 11. The Pipers' bench outscored the Oles' reserves 26-9 in the game, including 24-6 in the second half.
St. Olaf is locked into the No. 5 seed for the upcoming MIAC Playoffs and will travel to either Bethel or Augsburg, depending on the outcome of Saturday's games. The Oles take on the Auggies in Minneapolis on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 3 p.m.