NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team ended its four-game skid and completed a regular-season sweep of Hamline University with a 63-52 victory on Monday night at Skoglund Center.

St. Olaf (9-12, 8-8 MIAC) held Hamline (13-8, 11-5 MIAC), which entered the game in second place in the conference standings and had won eight of its last nine games, to a season-low 37.1 percent shooting and season-low 52 points to halt its four-game Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) losing streak. By evening its MIAC record at 8-8, the Oles moved into a tie with idle Bethel University for the sixth and final playoff spot with four games remaining.

After being named the MIAC Men's Basketball Offensive Player of the Week earlier in the day, sophomore Kobe Kirk scored a game-high 25 points on a night where he shot 8-for-9 from the field and 9-for-9 from the free-throw line. The sophomore added six rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots, and two steals while playing all 40 minutes.

Fifth-year senior Brendan Kauls was in double figures for the third time in four games with 15 points, five rebounds, three blocks, and two assists, while junior Addison Metcalf added 13 points, a career-high eight rebounds, and a team-high four assists. Kauls was 6-for-12 from the field and 3-for-6 from three-point range on a night, while the rest of the team was just 1-for-12 from behind the arc.

Bradley Cimperman and Austin Holt were the lone Pipers with more than six points on the night. Cimperman had a game-high 17 points, while Holt registered a 15-point, 16-rebound double-double. Cimperman and Holt were both 7-for-15 from the field in the loss, with the rest of the team shooting just 9-for-42 (21.4 percent) overall.

Hamline led for 14:09 in the first half and was up by as many as eight, but St. Olaf took a 28-27 lead into the locker room behind 13 first-half points from Kirk. The visitors used an 8-2 run to take the largest lead of the half at 23-15 with just over eight minutes remaining before the Oles closed the half on a 13-4 extended run.

After Hamline held the eight-point lead, Kirk and Kauls combined to score the game's next seven points to quickly get it down to a one-point game with 4:40 to go in the half. Kauls closed the half's scoring with a layup from Kirk in the final minute as the duo accounted for St. Olaf's final 13 points of the half.

In the second half, the Pipers were within three points midway through the half before Metcalf found Kauls for back-to-back three-pointers to balloon the Oles' lead to nine at 49-40 with 8:26 remaining. St. Olaf led by at least five the rest of the way, with Metcalf scoring 11 of his 13 points in the second half. Kirk, Kauls, and Metcalf scored 31 of St. Olaf's 35 second-half points, while Cimperman and Holt combined for 21 of Hamline's 25 points after the break.

The Oles head to Collegeville to face Saint John's University on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m.