ST. PAUL, Minn. – Behind a career-high 19 points for Alex Gibbens and Jeremy Beckler's second career double-double, the Carleton College men's basketball team rallied for a 67-60 win at Macalester College, completing a season-series sweep of the Scots. Beckler concluded the contest with game-highs of 21 points and 11 rebounds.
Carleton (13-4, 10-3 MIAC) won for the sixth time in seven games and inched closer to securing a first-round bye in the MIAC Playoffs later this month. The Knights also snapped Macalester's (9-10, 6-8 MIAC) five-game win streak.
"That was a quality MIAC basketball game tonight," said Carleton head coach Guy Kalland. "Macalester has begun to hit their stride over the last few weeks. We knew it was going to be a battle, and it was every bit of that. We hung in there and hit some big shots down the stretch and were able to come up with just enough plays defensively to earn a hard fought conference road win."
Carleton raced out to a 12-0 lead over the first four minutes of the game, as Beck Page drained a 3-pointer and Gibbens followed with back-to-back-to-back triples. Macalester countered with a 21-7 run of its own over the next eight minutes and eventually carried a 34-29 lead into halftime.
The Knights started the second half with another 12-0 run, only to watch the Scots tally seven unanswered points and knot the score at 41-41 five minutes into the period.
It was a one-possession game for most of the next 12 minutes of action, with Gabriel Ramos' driving layup giving Macalester a 58-56 lead with 2:57 still on the clock.
At that point, Beckler took over and scored Carleton's next 10 points. He started the flurry with back-to-back 3-pointers, then drained all four of his free throws in the final 34 seconds. Luke Harris tacked on the game's final point as the Knights closed the contest with an 11-2 run.
Gibbens finished with five 3-pointers, six rebounds, and three assists. Beckler scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half.
Alex Battist chipped in seven points and six rebounds for Carleton, while Matt Banovetz and John Carragher contributed six points apiece. Harris finished with five points, seven rebounds, and five assists.
Caleb Williams paced Macalester with 18 points, while Ramos accounted for 11 points and fell a rebound shy of a double-double.
Carleton shot 38 percent in the game overall and 40 percent (10-of-25) from 3-point range, while limiting the Scots to 32 percent overall and 27 percent (7-of-26) from beyond the arc.