WINONA, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team picked up its fourth consecutive Minnesota intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) victory with an 84-74 road win over Saint Mary's University on Wednesday night at David R. Thies Arena.
After a cold start offensively, St. Olaf (11-7, 7-2 MIAC) used a 14-0 run midway through the first half to take the lead and carried a 38-28 lead into halftime. In the second half, Saint Mary's (1-16, 0-8 MIAC) cut the Oles' lead to one on three occasions, but St. Olaf held on to improve to 6-1 in its last seven MIAC games and remain in sole possession of second place in the conference standings.
The 10-point win was just the second of the last nine meetings between the two programs to not be decided by single digits or in overtime. The victory continued a strong start to conference play for the Oles, who were just 3-13 in MIAC play a year ago.
Sophomore
Rex Lamb shot 8-for-17 from the field, 3-for-8 from three-point range, and 4-for-4 at the free-throw line on his way to a game-high 23 points and seven rebounds for St. Olaf. Senior
Kobe Kirk scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half, while sophomore
Luther Tostrud came off the bench to record his first collegiate double-double with 15 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Tostrud was 5-for-8 from the field, including 3-for-5 from behind the arc. Sophomore
AJ Uhl was also in double figures with 14 points on 7-for-14 shooting.
Jackson Harvey led four Cardinals in double figures with 21 points and eight rebounds while shooting 10-for-16 overall. Reid Weckwerth finished with 20 points, Reid Klug had a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double, and John Palmer added 10 points for the hosts, who remained winless in conference play. Saint Mary's got just two points from its bench, compared to 22 for St. Olaf.
St. Olaf started the game 4-for-16 (25.0 percent) from the field over the first eight minutes to fall in a 14-10 hole before holding Saint Mary's scoreless for five minutes as part of a 14-0 run. Tostrud and junior
Chris Willis combined for 11 of the first points in the run, which ended with a three-pointer by Lamb. The spurt started a close to the half that saw the Oles made 10 of their last 15 shots, including 5-of-7 three-pointers, to take a 38-28 lead into the break.
After closing the first half on a mini 4-0 run, Saint Mary's extended the run to 13-0 by scoring the first nine points of the second half to make it a one-point game three minutes in. After seeing their lead cut to one on three occasions, the Oles scored seven points in a row to build a 50-42 lead with 15 minutes to go, but the Cardinals countered with a 6-0 run to make it a one-possession game two minutes later.
A jumper by Kirk and a three-pointer by Tostrud pushed St. Olaf's lead back to seven with 11:04 to go as the Oles maintained a lead of at least four the rest of the way. Saint Mary's was still within four with 4:27 remaining before the Oles made four consecutive shots as part of an 8-0 run that made it a 78-66 game with two minutes to play.
After playing its last three games on the road, St. Olaf will return to Skoglund Center on Saturday, Jan. 24 for a 3 p.m. tip-off against Hamline University.
