Carleton Men Win Thriller at Hamline

For the Carleton Knights men's basketball team, these days nothing comes easily. Never was that more evident than last night when the Knights were up by 11 at the half in St. Paul and had to hang on for dear ife to win 62-60.

During the first half, Carleton played exceptionally well on both ends of the floor and led 35-24. Seven minutes into the second half, Hamline turned some Carleton turnovers into points and suddenly it was tied. Hamline did have a brief lead in the second half. The Knights struggled from the free throw line, going seven of 15 for the night. The only senior on the Carleton team, Shane Mcsparron of Apple Valley, Minn., tallied 19 points and hit some clutch free throws down the stretch. Junior John Eckert of North Judson, Ind., had 12 points and eight rebounds; freshman Kevin Grown of Maple Lake, Minn., collected seven points and nine rebounds; and sophmore point guard Peter Bakker-Arkema of Ann Arbor, Mich., amassed six of his nine rebounds in the first half. Hamline had just one player in double figures, freshman guard Zach Smith of Burnsville, Minn., with 14 points, 10 of those in the second half. Carleton shot 55 percent from the field and improved their league record to 2-5 while Hamline dropped to 2-6 in the MIAC.

Carleton hosts Bethel University in Northfield on Saturday in a women's/men's doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Next week, the Knights travel to Winona, Minn., and play St. Marys University on Monday, then make the long trek to Moorhead, Minn., to play Concordia in a women's/men's doubleheader Wednesday. On Saturday, Jan. 24, Carleton travels to St. Paul to play Macalester in another women's/men's doubleheader. All those games will be on KDHL Radio, 920AM and are available on the Carleton College Athletic Department website.

In other men's action Wednesday night, Concordia upset Gustavus in St. Peter 48-45, St. Johns throttled St. Mary's 93-74 in Collegeville, St. Olaf defeated Augsburg 79-60 in Northfield to take over first place in the MIAC with a 7-1 league record. St. Thomas is 6-1. Bethel defeated Macalester 76-55.

In women's MIAC action, the Carleton Knights made a valiant comeback but came up short against Hamline 64-60 in West gym. St. Thomas traveled a few blocks to St. Catherine and won 62-49, Bethel crushed Macalester 82-46, St. Mary's beat St. Benedict in Winona 63-59, St. Olaf defeated Augsburg in Minneapolis 58-48 and Gustavus got by Concordia 64-57.