<rleton College men’s basketball program bid farewell to seniors Taylor Hanson and Cameron Webb on Senior Day at West Gymnasium. However, Hanson’s 18 point, 11 rebound and 6 assist double-double performance was not enough to end the Knights season on a winning note, as they dropped a close contest to Macalester College by a final tally of 62-58.
In addition to contributions from the two seniors, the Knights (9-17, 7-14 MIAC) also received 10 points from freshman point guard Peter Bakker-Arkema, whose late second-half barrage of three-pointers tested Macalester (5-21, 4-17 MIAC) late in the contest. Despite trailing for all but 30 seconds of the final half, Carleton managed to create a nail-biter of an ending. Trailing by 12 points, the Scots’ largest advantage of the contest, with just 2:39 left on the second-half clock, Bakker-Arkema went to work.
The Knights’ rookie knocked down two consecutive three-point shots to cut the visitors’ lead to four. One possession later, after a pair of MAC free-throws, fellow first-year Mitchell Biewen knocked down a trifecta to make it just a one-possession, 58-55 Scot’s lead with 52 seconds to play.
Unfortunately for Carleton, three points was as close as they would be able to get down the stretch. Macalester’s 50 percent shooting performance from the field – including a stellar 58 percent mark over the second period – proved to much to overcome. Bert Yaffe drilled what proved to be a game-clinching three-pointer with under 20 seconds to play, and another Bakker-Arkema three with just a few ticks left on the West Gym clock proved to be too little too late.
Although Carleton struggled for much of the second-half other than that final run, the first-half was a somewhat different story. Macalester did lead for most of the game’s opening five minutes, but the Knights soon took control. After a Hanson free-throw gave Carleton its first lead of the game with 14:26 left in the first, Carleton build up an eight point advantage over the next few minutes. Leading 22-14 after John Eckert (So./North Judson, Ind./North Judson), who scored eight points on the afternoon, converted a layup at the first half’s 7:46 mark, things seemed to be rolling along nicely for the home squad on Senior Day. But from that point forward, the Scots seemed to take over. Macalester erased that eight point deficit over the next couple of minutes, and held a 29-28 lead heading into the halftime break.
And that Macalester momentum continued into the beginning stages of the second period. Although Carleton managed to take a slim one-point lead after Hanson free-throws at the 14:38 mark, the Scots had a quick, and fairly decisive answer. Macalester followed their loss of the lead with a 10-2 run that turned the tables on the Knights and handed their foes from St. Paul a 42-34 lead with 11:13 to play. From that point forward it was pretty much all Macalester until Knight’s very late comeback attempt.