<med Goat Trophy on the line, senior Ryan Casperson (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) came off the bench and poured in a career-best 21 points to lead the Carleton College men’s basketball team to a 69-58 victory over rival St. Olaf College.
Casperson was 9-of-13 from the field, including 5-of-6 in the second half as Carleton (14-10, 12-7 MIAC) snapped the Oles’ (18-6, 14-5 MIAC) nine-game win streak and kept the series’ 104-year old traveling trophy on the east side of the Cannon River.
Contrary to their last meeting, both squads started slowly on the offensive end this time. Carleton broke through early, establishing a lead of 11-4 and forcing a St. Olaf timeout five minutes into the contest.
Nate Albers singlehandedly kept St. Olaf in the game. After teammate Frank Delaney scored St. Olaf’s first four points, Albers literally did the rest, pouring in the visitors’ final 16 points of the half. The sophomore’s third three-pointer of the period tied things up at 13-13 with 10:20 remaining.
The Knights again began to stretch their lead in the latter stages of the period, going up by 10 on a fast break layup from Quinn Johnson (Jr./Roseville, Minn.). Out of the ensuing St. Olaf timeout, Albers stayed hot and cut the deficit to five on a pair of scoring plays.
Carleton had the final say, however. Casperson drilled a three right before the first-half buzzer to put the Knights up 31-20 at the break. Carleton went up by as many as 16 at 44-28 with 11:46 to go before St. Olaf began chipping away. The visitors came within single digits again with 6:31 still to play, but a fifth foul by Delaney and subsequent technical foul swung the momentum back over to the Knights.
Carleton made seven free throws over the final two minutes to seal the victory.
The Knights shot 46 percent overall, including 58 percent in the second half. The Oles managed only 34 percent shooting in the game.
While Casperson spearheaded the Knights offensive attack, Kent Hanson (So./Saint Paul, Minn./Saint Paul Academy) was not far behind with 18 points and eight rebounds in the winning effort. Grow totaled 17 points, seven boards and four steals.
Albers led the Oles with a game-high 24 points, and Tobroxen finished with 14 points, all in the second half.
The Knights will conclude their regular season campaign at Bethel University on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Live audio will be available on KDHL 920 AM in the Northfield/Faribault area and worldwide via Knights Online.