ST. PAUL, Minn. – Down one point to Saint Mary's with just under six and a half minutes to play, the Macalester College men's basketball team found themselves in need of a hero. They found exactly that in junior guard Eric Wentz (Minot, N.D./Minot). Wentz scored 10 straight Scot points in the final six minutes to lead Macalester to a much-needed 61-56 victory over the Cardinals on Saturday afternoon. Macalester now sits at 5-11 overall and 2-5 in the MIAC, while Saint Mary's drops to 5-11 overall and 1-6 in the MIAC.
While Wentz carried the Scots home, Macalester played the bulk of this contest without two of their starters and thus had to rely on a balanced attack. They leapt out to an early 10-3 lead, with senior guard Robert Grace IV (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School) scoring or assisting on eight of their first 10 points. Then, the Cardinals settled into the game and tightened the score. Though Saint Mary's took the lead late in the first half, the Scots went into the break up 38-37 mostly thanks to the efforts of junior forward Ryan Brush (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue), who went on a heater for the entire half, as he sank four of his six three-point attempts to keep the Scots on top. As a squad, Macalester went 7-of-18 from behind the arc and attempted 10 more shots than the Cardinals in the first half because they won the offensive rebounding and turnover battles.
Neither team started the second half well, as they combined to compile more than five minutes of game time between the end of the first and start of the second half without scoring a single point between them. After the Cardinals broke the ice to take the lead, Wentz responded with a three followed by a tough layup to put Macalester back in the driver's seat. Though the Scots clung to their lead with timely shots, both teams struggled to score as the defensive intensity increased. With 6:23 to play, Saint Mary's took their first lead of the half with a paint jumper. From there, the Scots tightened the bolts on defense and let Wentz do the rest on offense.
After the Cardinals took their 52-51 lead, Macalester only allowed them to score four more points in the game. After they forced turnovers or misses and grabbed rebounds, they funneled the ball to Wentz, who battled down low to score layup after layup. With the Scots up 57-56 with the shot clock off and the Cardinals forced to foul, Macalester got the ball to Wentz, who knocked down his free throws to end the game. In the second half, the Scots scored 23 points, 16 of which belonged to Wentz. Critically, the undersized Scots managed to survive on the boards. Though they lost the rebounding battle, Grace IV and senior guard Tom Andreae (Newton, Mass./Newton North), two of the smallest players on the court, collected nine of the team's 14 defensive rebounds of the half. Both teams struggled to hit threes in the second half, as Macalester hit just two and Saint Mary's only hit one, and neither team could hold onto the ball as they both turned it over five times.
Wentz finished with 26 points and six boards in the hard-fought matchup. Brush ended with 14 points and three assists. Grace IV ended with five points and six boards and managed to play out the full game despite acquiring his fourth foul with over five minutes to go.
The Scots return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 22 with a road game against Concordia College. The MIAC contest starts at 5:30 p.m. in Moorhead, Minn.
