Gustavus Adolphus College

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Friday, February 8, 2008 (7 months ago)

The Gustavus men's basketball team will battle St. Thomas on Saturday with first place in the MIAC at stake…The Gusties enter with a record of 16-4 overall and 12-2 in the MIAC, while the Tommies enter with a mark of 18-3 overall and 14-2 in the MIAC…Earlier in the season, Gustavus defeated the Tommies 59-58 in St. Peter…Tyler Kaus hit a layup with one-second left on the clock to give the Gusties the come-from-behind victory…St. Thomas is ranked #19 in the most recent d3hoops.com poll.

About the Gusties — The Gusties posted a convincing 93-60 win at Saint Mary's on Wednesday night…Coach Mark Hanson's squad registered season highs in points scored (93), field goals made (40), field goal attempts (72), and assists (28)…All 15 players dressed on Wednesday played against the Cardinals…Trevor Wittwer led Gustavus with 17 points which pushed his career total to 1091…Wittwer, who played in his 100th career game against Saint John's on Monday night, currently ranks 24th on the Gustavus all-time scoring list and he needs eight points to move past Eric Nelson (1, 098 — 2000-04) into 23rd place and ten points to move past Ken Abram (1,100 — 1959-63) into 22nd place…Wittwer, who is averaging 16.1 points per game has scored in double figures in 18 of the Gusties 20 games this season…Kane Sivesind scored 16 points against the Cardinals…Sivesind has scored in double figures in seven of the past eight games…The only game he did not score in double figures was the game the Gusties lost to Augsburg…Freshman guard Dan Schmidtknecht scored a career high 14 points against Saint Mary's…Gustavus currently ranks first in the MIAC in scoring defense allowing 64.5 points per game and fifth in scoring offense with an average of 71.7 points per game.

About the Tommies — St. Thomas is coming off a 84-68 win over Bethel in Arden Hills on Wednesday night…The Tommies lead the MIAC with a record of 14-2 and have won eight straight since falling to the Gusties on Jan. 12 in St. Peter…St. Thomas is led in scoring by Joe Scott who is averaging 16.4 points per game…Tyler Nicolai is the only other Tommie averaging in double figures at 11.0 ppg…St. Thomas is unbeaten at home this season with a record of 8-0…The Tommies are averaging 78.8 points per game this season and have scored 70 points or more in 20 of their 21 games…The only time they have been held under 70 points was in their 59-58 loss to Gustavus…St. Thomas leads the MIAC in scoring offense with an average of 79.2 points per game and ranks third in scoring defense allowing 65.8 points per game.

The Series — This will be the 167th meeting between Gustavus and St. Thomas in men's basketball…The Tommies lead the all-time series with a record of 95-71…St. Thomas has won eight straight regular season games against Gustavus at Schoenecker Arena dating back to the 1998-99 season…The Gusties did win the MIAC Playoff Championship game at St. Thomas by the score of 62-36 in March of 2003…That win started the Gusties on their march to the NCAA Championship game where they lost a heartbreaker to Williams College 67-65…St. Thomas and Gustavus are two of the most storied programs in the history of Division III men's basketball…The Tommies rank fourth all-time in wins with a record of 1,405-806, while the Gusties rank 10th all-time with a record of 1,300-889…The Gusties became only the 10th program in the history of Division III men's basketball to compile 1,300 wins when they defeated Saint Mary's in Winona on Wednesday night.

Listen Live - You can listen live to the game through the Gustavus website. Tom Wheeler will handle the play-by-play for KNUJ Radio - 860 AM out of New Ulm, Minnesota.