Men’s Basketball: Williams hero lifts Scotland to beat St. Mary’s 75-72

st.Paul, Minnesota – Driving layups by junior guards Caleb Williams (Wild Roses/Wild Roses) and a free throw with 3.7 seconds remaining tied the score for the Macalester College men’s basketball team to a 75-72 victory over St. Mary’s University at the Leonard Center Wednesday night. The MIAC win ended his eight-game winning streak for the Cardinals, and Scotland achieved his 10-5 record overall, including his 7-4 in the conference. St. Mary’s falls to his 10-6, 6-5 MIAC.

McAlester was two points behind at 72-70 with 1:22 on the clock, but Williams hit two free throws to tie the score at 72-72 with less than a minute remaining. After St. Mary’s missed a three-pointer, Williams drove to the basket in time, placed the ball with his left hand, and was fouled. Anthony scored the win for Scotland with a long three from the right side off the mark.

Macalester started the game well, starting with a 15-4 run that included two 3s by first-year guards. Eric Wentz (Minot, ND/Minot). The lead widened to 24-12 with 7:19 left and less than a minute remaining before the Cardinals used a 16-6 run to cut the lead to 30-28. sophomore guard coby gold (Denver, Colorado/Kent Denver) Sophomore guard after hitting a jumper Marcus Crawford (Edina, MN/Edina) took a 3 as time expired to give Scotland a 35-28 advantage at the break. McAlester held the St. Marys to 34.5% shooting from the field, and he had 51.7 shots in the first half.

The Cardinals started the second half first, putting on a 15-1 spree punctuated by a dunk from Anthony, leading St. Mary’s 43-36 with 15:27 remaining. Williams scored his 10 points in his 25-for-8 run and put Scotland ahead of him a year. Ryan Blush (Bellevue, WA/Bellevue) Macalester led 61-51 with 3s with 8:40 remaining. The Cardinals refused to yield and fought to regain the lead, going 64-63 with 5:21 on the clock. Williams answered with a three-pointer on the edge of 66-64, but 4:23 he let Anthony at the mark tie the game with a jumper.

Gold and Anthony traded baskets and Anthony scored following a Scotts mistake to make the score 70-68 St. Mary’s with 2:43 remaining. Layup by sophomore guard Robert Grace IV (Minneapolis, MN/The Blake School) tied the score at 70-70 before Anthony hit two free throws to set up heroics for Williams.

McAlester shot 56.5% from the field in the second half and finished the game with a season-best .538 shooting percentage. Scotland also scored 11-for-20 (.550) across the arc of the game. Williams was 8/12 from the field and 2/4 from 3-point range en route to a team-high 24 points. Wentz tallied his 13 points and from the deep he went 3-for-3 and Gold he tallied 11 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks. Brash came off the bench and scored his career-high 11 points. This included his 3 of his 3-pointers. Grace has scored 6 points, 3 boards and 4 assists. sophomore forward Badu Ba (Dakar, Senegal/Williston Northampton) led Scotland with 11 rebounds and finished with seven points. Anthony led all players in the Cardinals’ pace with 25 points.

Macalester will host Bethel at another MIAC clash on Saturday, January 21st. The match time is set for 5:15 PM at the Leonard Center.