Gustavus

On Saturday, we took on the Gusties (another bad nickname) at Hutton Arena. This a rematch of the January 9th game in St. Peter where we lost a tough one, 73-66 after being in control for most of the game. It was a battle of the 2nd and 3rd place teams in the conference. It certainly didn't disappoint.

The first half had back and forth action with neither team really getting control. The half was at a rather pedestrian pace which certainly favored GAC (Gustavus Adolphus College for those non-Minnesotans). GAC did not shoot the ball particularly well in the 1st stanza shooting at a 33% clip (9-27). They also got the free throw line a bunch and were 10-14 from there. The Pipes were much better at 52% (12-23) but turned the ball over 11 times. All those turnovers were completely unnecessary because GAC doesn't pressure the ball at all. The score going into the locker rooms was 30-29 in favor of the Gusties. GAC was led by Phil Wirtjes and Ryan McPartland with six points each and shooting combined 6-6 from the line. We were led by Ray Brown's 11 and Carl Hipp's 9 and 7 boards.

The second half started out very well for us as we got the ball inside to Carl and he couldn't be stopped. We quickly got the lead to six four minutes into the half. GAC quickly turned that lead into a tie ball game with their methodical playmaking and clutch shooting from Wirtjes. The last eight minutes of the half were a flat out test of wills. Both teams were locked in defensively and it was clear that neither team wanted to lose this game. GAC was kept in the game by freshman James Hill's shooting. We lost him on the defensive end a couple of times and each time he hit us with daggers. We ended up force feeding "The Nasty One" Carl Hipp and he delivered every time in the post. He even made a couple of clutch free throws down the stretch to give the Pipers a huge win, 66-63.

There were several great things for us during Saturday's game. One, we got the "W," in a game that had Gustavus written all over it. Two, we beat them on the boards after getting beat by 15 the first time we played them. Three, our crowd was great and was very instrumental in the win. Four, a couple of players from the 40's and 50's were there including NBA Hall of Famer Vern Mikkelsen. It's always great to see our alums there supporting us. And five, Carl Hipp scored his 1,000 career point on clutch free throws down the stretch, congrats to Carl.

Carl led us with his 2nd consecutive 29 point game to go along with 12 boards. Ray Brown also hit the 20 point barrier to go along with 5 boards and 4 huge blocks. Nick Carroll once again gave a great defensive effort. Though, we didn't get another double figure scorer, we did get some great minutes off the bench by Levi Wenrich, Brandon Rieg, and Christian Taber aka Danny Ainge.

We have off until Wednesday when we travel to Winona to play St. Mary's. It's another pivotal game for us at we stand at 15-7 and 11-6 in the conference to stand 1/2 game behind GAC for 2nd place and a bye in the first round of the playoffs.