<nen Chen ‘17 and Taylor Hanson ‘14 had 21 points apiece to lead the Carleton College men’s basketball team to a 77-61 victory over Saint Mary’s University.
“We hit the floor real hard. It was very determined Carleton team,” said Carleton head coach Guy Kalland. “I was really happy with our offensive efficiency and defensive effort. We did a nice job handling the ball screens tonight.”
The Knights never trailed, opening the game with a 17-2 burst en route to the win. Carleton shot 57 percent from the field—its third-highest field-goal percentage of the season. The hosts also posted season-best totals in rebounds (45) and assists (23).
After Carleton carried a 39-27 lead into intermission, the Cardinals opened the second period on an 8-0 spurt. Following a Knights timeout, the hosts went back to their senior post as back-to-back buckets by Hanson sparked a 22-9 run that put Carleton back in command of the game.
Saint Mary’s tried to keep pace via the long-range shot, making 10 three pointers, but the Cardinals had no answer for the Carlton posts.
Hanson was 10-for-12 from the floor and corralled 14 rebounds for his sixth career double-double. Chen made 10-of his-13 field-goal attempts. John Eckert ‘16 added six points, nine rebounds and a career-high tying seven assists.
Guards Mitchell Biewen ‘17 and Beau Smit ‘17 contributed 15 and 10 points respectively, giving Carleton three rookies in double figures.
“First-year kids are way different in November than they are in January. There is a lot more playing and less thinking as they get into a more instinctive phase,” said Kalland.
Ronnie Ortiz tallied a career-best 18 points to pace the Cardinals.
Later in the week, Carleton looked to build upon the win over St. Mary’s when the Knights played host to Augsburg College. But despite a career-high 24 points from first-year Peter Bakker-Arkema ‘17, the Knights suffered a 66-63 loss to the Auggies.
“I thought it was the kind of battle that we had anticipated,” said coach Kalland after the game, “I think we played at a decent level; we had some trouble with ball screens early on. They’re awfully quick and hard to guard off the bounce, but I thought we got quality possessions on offense and we got some good looks down the stretch.”
Carleton (6-7, 4-4 MIAC) hit the court with just eight players dressed. The number disparity was of little importance at the start of the game, however, as the Knights battled back and forth with the Auggies (9-4, 5-3 MIAC) during the opening frame. Bakker-Arkema was 6-of-7 from the field in the first half, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc, to help the Knights carve out a 41-37 lead heading into intermission.
Both teams blistered the nets with Augsburg shooting 65.2 percent over the first twenty minutes and Carleton connecting on 62.5 percent of its attempts.
After a jumper by Bakker-Arkema gave Carleton its biggest advantage of the contest, 47-39, with 17:10 remaining, Augsburg respond with a 12-1 run to take a three-point lead with 12:32 still to play.
Seven minutes later, with the score tied at 57-57, Beau Smit—who until then had played the entire game, contributed 11 points, and was Carleton’s best available perimeter defender—fouled out.
Bakker-Arkema notched the game’s next points with a layup, giving the Knights a two-point lead with 4:25 left. The Auggies put together a 7-0 run capped by Parker Hines’ three pointer with the shot clock winding down. That shot proved to be the dagger, putting the visitors in front 64-59 with 23 ticks remaining.
Carleton committed a season-low five turnovers, but a 33 percent shooting effort in the second half proved to be the difference.
In addition to Bakker-Arkema and Smit, Carleton benefitted from a 13-point, nine-rebound effort from Taylor Hanson, who joined Mitchell Biewen in playing the full 40 minutes for the Knights.
Andy Seidlitz and Dan Kornbaum led the way for the Auggies, scoring 19 and 18 points, respectively.
“All in all I thought we played at a solid level. You always want to put yourself in a position where you can win a contest, and I thought we did that. It didn’t work out this time, but it wasn’t for lack of effort or execution. It was a good day for the Knights,” Coach Kalland concluded.