ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College men's basketball team traveled down Snelling Avenue today for an afternoon faceoff against Hamline. Though the Scots had the edge at halftime, the Pipers pulled away in the second to down Macalester 80-55. The Scots fall to 7-14 overall and 4-8 in the MIAC, while Hamline climbs to 13-9 overall and 9-4 in the MIAC.
This game saw the return of junior forward Noah Shannon (Northfield, Ill./New Trier), who had missed the previous four due to injury. Shannon made his presence known right out of the gates by dropping in a layup for the first score of the game. However, Hamline responded with force and leapt out to a quick 10-point lead less than five minutes into the game. Not to be outdone, the Scots responded with a 15-1 run that included two three-pointers from sophomore guard Berke Arslan (Istanbul, Turkey/Montverde Academy). The Scots claimed the lead with that run and refused to relinquish it for the remainder of the half. They went into intermission up 33-31.
Shannon led the Scots in the first half with eight points and three boards. First year guard Logan Davis (Kensington, Md./Bethesda Chevy Chase) sat right behind him at seven points and two boards. Sophomore guard Kaden Holdbrook (Palo Alto, Calif./Gunn/Asheville School) who also returned from injury in this game recorded five points, two boards and two assists in his first half back in action. Holdbrook was also a team-high plus-nine in the half.
The second half, however, was not so kind to the Scots. Though they maintained their lead after three minutes of play, the tide soon turned in the Pipers' favor. Macalester hung around and kept the deficit to single digits for most of the half mostly thanks to their inside shooting, especially from Shannon, who rolled in a layup to cut the lead to seven with just under nine minutes to play. That would be the closest Macalester got, however. A few possessions later, Arslan found senior guard Marcus Crawford (Edina, Minn./Edina) on back-to-back possessions for three to keep the game within 10 points with under six to play. From there, the Scots lost the rope. The Pipers outscored Macalester 17-2 the rest of the way to glide to victory.
Crawford's back-to-back threes marked the only long-range makes for Mac in the second half. After going 5-for-13 in the first, they went 2-for-15 in the second. Macalester also lost the ball eight times in the second half, compared to just three giveaways from the Pipers.
Shannon finished the game with 16 points on 7-of-10 from the field with seven boards in his return to the court. Davis finished with a career-high nine points to accompany his three boards. Junior forward Ryan Brush (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue) tallied seven points and six boards, three of which came on the offensive glass.
The Pipers knocked down 37 percent of their three-pointers in the game compared to 25 percent for the Scots. The Pipers also shot 47.6 percent from the field compared to the Scots' 36.7 percent. Three different Pipers surpassed the 20-point mark on the afternoon, led by Raoul Vaidya with 26 points.
The Scots return to action on Feb. 12 against the undefeated Saint John's. The two will meet for their MIAC matchup at 7:00 p.m. in Collegeville, Minn.
