PIPERS FALL TO KNIGHTS

Despite a second half surge and adouble-double from Tony Thrasher (Sr., Hustisford, Wis.), the Hamline University men fell to Carleton, 73-64, in Saint Paul on Saturday.

The Knights held the lead on the scoreboard through the first half andheld an eight-point lead with under two minutes to play in the half.Stoddard Barnhill (Fy., Minneapolis, Minn.) then got into a wildthree-point play exchange with Carleton’s Blaise Davis (Fy., Elk River,Minn.) that cut the Knights’ lead to five.

With the Pipers down 32-24, Barnhill drove to the basket with 1:20 onthe clock, making the layup and collecting the foul. Davis answered witha shot from outside the arc, before Barnhill repeated the samethree-point play with seven seconds on the clock.

Barnhill then recovered the rebound on the Knights’ final shot attemptof the half, keeping the halftime score at 35-30 in favor of Carleton.

Dan Andersen (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn.) led Hamline’s scoring in thefirst half with seven points, while Seth Jonker (So., Apple Valley,Minn.) led Carleton with eight points.

Carleton opened up the lead on the Pipers once again in the second half,but Hamline kept the pressure on the Knights, cutting the lead back downto two, 49-47, at 10:42. After Carleton climbed back out to a 57-51 leadagain, Tony Thrasher (Sr., Hustisford, Wis.) made two layups in a row tocut the Pipers’ deficit to 57-55 with 6:40 to play.

Barnhill was sent to the line once again at 5:57, sinking both freethrows to tie the game.

The Knights’ Carter Biewen (So., Golden Valley, Minn.) and Davisresponded with a jumper and a trey, respectively, to gain a 62-57 leadfor the Knights at 4:23.

That exchange of baskets, and narrow Carleton leads, continued until Jonker drained a three-pointer with just over two minutes to play thatjumped the visitors back out to a 67-62 lead that they built uponleading up to the final buzzer. The Pipers were led by 19 from Andersen and 12 from Thrasher. Thrasheradded 10 rebounds for the double-double.

Carleton was paced by Jonker’s 17 points, while Zach Johnson (Sr., AppleValley, Minn.) and Bryan Rosett (Jr., Cottage Grove, Minn.) each had 12.Rosett tallied a double-double by adding 15 rebounds to his point total.

Hamline’s record now stands at 5-13, 4-10 MIAC after the conferenceloss. The Knights improve to 13-5, 9-4 MIAC. Hamline will play at home again tomorrow, Sunday, February 1, at 3:00 p.m. They will host theConcordia Cobbers in the second game of a women’s-men’s double-header.