<rleton College men’s basketball team (10-8, 6-7 MIAC) continued its second-half surge with a 65-42 victory over visiting Concordia College. Junior Seth Jonker tallied a game-high 15 points to pace the Knights, who won their third straight game. Jeremy Sutherland chipped in 13 points, four rebounds and two steals.
The Knights’ stifling defense held Concordia to 16 percent shooting in the first half, helping Carleton carry a 29-13 lead into intermission. The Cobbers shot 26 percent overall for the contest compared to 47 percent for Carleton.
“The team is continuing to sustain what we need to do at both ends of the floor: get engaged at the defensive end and execute at the offensive end,” said Carleton head coach Guy Kalland. “We were a little frenetic in some broken-floor stuff in the first half, but we settled down in the second half. I thought we were once again engaged defensively for 40 minutes”.
The Knights have not trailed at any point during the current three-game win streak. Tonight junior Carter Biewen drained a three-pointer on the first possession of the game and the home team never looked back. The lead increased to 11-0 before Concordia got on the scoreboard as James Baldwin notched a rebound basket more than six minutes into the contest. The Cobbers misfired on their initial nine shots and never threatened.
Jonker took over early, scoring 11 points in only 13 first-half minutes as he went 5-of-9 from the field. At the other end of the court, Carleton held the Cobbers’ top three scorers—Darrin Olmscheid, John Fraase, and Karl Olson—to a combined four points on 1-of-8 shooting before intermission.
While no Carleton starter played more than 12 minutes in the second half, the Knights extended the lead to as many as 31 points with over four minutes still on the clock. All 12 Knights saw game action with 11 of them breaking into the scoring column and 10 recording at least one assist.
Senior Bryan Rosett corralled a team-high seven rebounds to go along with seven points. Freshman Scott Theissen contributed seven points, three rebounds, and two steals off the bench.
“It’s good for our top offensive guys to know that when they come out for a blow, the level of play is going to stay up—particularly at the defensive end,” said Kalland. “It’s fun to have a team that comes to practice and wants to continue to grow.”
Fraase finished with eight points—all in the second half—and eight rebounds to lead Concordia. Olmscheid and Olson did not score after intermission as the Knights held the trio to 12 total points, well below their combined 36.7 average.
Tonight’s victory coupled with results from around the circuit, means the Knights made up ground on three of the six teams ahead of them in the standings, leaving Carleton just a half-game of St. Olaf College for sixth place in the MIAC race. The top six squads will advance to the conference tournament the last week of February.
The triumph came on the heels of another dominating win last Saturday, when the Kngihts celebrated a century of basketball at Carleton in high fashion, besting Saint John’s University by a score of 84-68 at West Gym. All five Knights starters scored in double figures, led Jonker’s 17-point, nine-rebound effort. Rosett added 15 points.
“I’m very pleased with winning three (straight), but now our eyes are on the next game,” Kalland said.
That contest will occur tomorrow whenn the Knights host Hamline University in a 3 p.m. contest at West Gym.
– Courtesy of Sports Information