S T. PAUL, Minn. – Playing their third game in five days, the Carleton College men’s basketball team traveled to Hamline University for a game Wednesday night and earned the Knights’ third straight victory, 80-69.
The conference-leading Knights (14-2, 9-2 MIAC) continued their momentum in 2023, as a win over the Pipers (10-6, 6-5 MIAC) was the fifth in six games to start the new season. year.
“I was really impressed with our fight in the second half,” the Carleton head coach said. ryan kershaw. “We knew it was going to be a rough and tough game as Hamline plays very hard and is very well prepared. Our guys were up for the challenge and made some big adjustments down the stretch. Overall it was an excellent win.” , and I’m very proud of our group.”
jeremy becker (Mr./Lino Lakes, Minn./White Bear Lake) and Hamline’s Bradley Cimperman were coming off lifetime games Monday night. The former led Carleton to a victory at Saint John’s with a career-high 36 points, which would have been good for the highest total in a conference contest this season were it not for Cimperman, who exploded with 51 points, one off the MIAC record. in an 85-82 win over Gustavus Adolphus that same night. Both would play key roles in Wednesday’s contest.
Hamline got off to a strong start on their home court and got their biggest lead of the game, 19-7, thanks to Cimperman’s 3-pointer with 13:17 left in the first half. Carleton fought back with a 16-4 run in the next six minutes. The score remained closed for the remainder of the stanza, and Beck’s Page‘s (Sr./Longmont, Colo./Longmont) second 3-pointer of the period brought the Knights within 34-33 at the halftime break.
Carleton continued to rely heavily on the outside shot throughout the second half. matthew banovetz (Jr./Minneapolis, Minn./Academy of Holy Angels) and luke harris (So./Piedmont, Calif./Piedmont) started the half with three apiece, and then Beckler took over. Carleton’s leading scorer this season made 14 of his 16 points in the final 15 minutes of play, including four 3-pointers.
Carleton retook the lead for the final time with exactly nine minutes to go thanks to a Alex Gibbens (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) Jumper. The junior guard followed with a layup on the next possession, and the Knights never relinquished control of the game.
Gibbens led the visitors in scoring with 17 points. Beckler’s 16 and Harris’ 15 were next on the list. chuck sweat (Jr./Glencoe, Ill./New Trier) made his first career start and had 11 points and 11 rebounds en route to his first career double-double. He also contributed a trio of 3-pointers to a team total of 13 on the night.
Carleton shot 52 percent of the game and 48 percent (13-of-27) from deep, while the Pipers made 43 percent of their shots and were 7-of-22 (32 percent) from beyond the arc.
Cimperman led the way for the Pipers with 25, as Austin Holt (15 points) and Mick Wherley (14 points), were his only teammates to join him in double figures.
Up next for the Knights
Carleton returns home to host Gustavus Adolphus College for a men’s and women’s doubleheader on Saturday, January 21. The men’s game begins the afternoon with a 1:00 p.m. kick-off.