NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team used a 13-1 run early in the second half to break a tie and pulled away for an 81-60 non-conference victory over Crown College on Sunday afternoon at Skoglund Center.
After Crown (2-2) started the second half on a 9-2 run to tie the game, St. Olaf (1-2) held the Polars to one point over a five-minute stretch as part of the 13-1 tie-breaking run. The victory kept the Oles unbeaten in the all-time series with Crown at 6-0.
Senior
Kobe Kirk, sophomore
Rex Lamb, and sophomore
AJ Uhl were all in double figures in scoring for St. Olaf, which shot 45.7 percent (32-for-70) from the field and got 28 points from its bench in the win. Kirk and Uhl led the way with 16 points apiece, while Lamb added 13. First year
Max Kraay scored nine points on 3-for-6 shooting off the bench, while sophomore
Liam Madigan neared a double-double with eight points, a game- and career-high 12 rebounds, and three assists.
St. Olaf held a 50-32 advantage on the glass in the victory, including pulling down 19 offensive rebounds that led to 19 second-chance points. In addition to Madigan's 12 rebounds, sophomore
Luther Tostrud pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds in 22 minutes.
Kirk and Uhl combined for 23 first-half points to propel St. Olaf to a 38-31 halftime lead after the Oles shot 51.7 percent (15-for-29) from the field in the half. Crown opened up its largest lead of the afternoon at 19-14 eight minutes in after a 7-0 run, but St. Olaf responded with an 8-2 run to go ahead. Later, the Oles scored nine points in a row to go up by eight at 31-23 and led by as many as nine before taking a seven-point lead into the locker room.
Crown came out of the halftime break on a 9-2 run inside the first two minutes of the second half to tie the game at 40-40. St. Olaf answered with a 13-1 run over the span of five-plus minutes that included seven points from Lamb, who had 10 points in the second half. The Oles led by double figures for the final 11:58 after a jumper by first year
Cooper Carlson. Kraay had all nine of his points in the second half.
St. Olaf will hit the road for the first time this season for a 7 p.m. tip-off at UW-River Falls on Wednesday, Nov. 19.
