2010 has been a fantastic handful of days for Mark Hanson’s squad, starting out the new year with a series of wins. After a rough pair of games in Hawai’i over Christmas, the Gusties welcomed MIAC foes warmly with convincing wins over Macalester and St. Olaf, extending their conference winning streak to six games. This past Saturday, Gustavus played host to Hamline. Despite a poor shooting first half, Gustavus shot an efficient 61% in the second session, holding off the Pipers best efforts at a comeback with a 73-66 victory. Phil Wirtjes lead all Gustie scorers with 16, while Seth Anderson scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half and added six assists.

This past Wednesday, the Gusties faced their most difficult test in the #5 St. Thomas Tommies. In a defensive-laden contest, it was the extra effort on D that made the difference for the Gusties.

“They are a tough team on defense. The officials allowed it to be a physical game, and when they were flying around and going for rebounds, it was a challenge,” Senior Ryan McPartland said.

Two steals by Van Sickle and a defensive stop by McPartland paced the offense down the stretch, but it was an acrobatic left-handed lay-up from Anderson that set the crowd on fire and put the Gusties ahead for good. Anderson paced all scorers with a season-high 17 points, while both Van Sickle and Wirtjes contributed 9. McPartland finished with 8 points and a team-high 5 boards in the 56-51 win. “It’s a huge win for us. We are the top two teams in the conference and it helps so much moving forward,” Senior Jesse Van Sickle said. “Defense like theirs brings out the best in us. It took all of our effort and we had to match their intensity, but we puled it out.”

The road doesn’t get much easier for the Gusties any time soon. They’ll spend the first part of next week on the road, at MIAC rivals Bethel on Jan 16., and at St. John’s on Jan. 18, before coming home to host Carleton on the 20th.