NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Carleton College rookie Isaac Tessier (Fy./White Bear Lake, Minn./White Bear Lake) tallied a game-high 22 points to help the Carleton College men's basketball team claim a 70-69 triumph over visiting Gustavus Adolphus College.
 
"What an exciting MIAC game; what a nice win for the guys," said Carleton head coach Guy Kalland. "It was exactly the type of battle that we were expecting, and it went down to the wire. We were fortunate to pull out a win."
 
Leading 70-68 with less than a minute to go, Carleton (9-12, 6-10 MIAC) missed a 3-pointer, but Alex Battist (So./Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) grabbed the offensive rebound, and Gustavus (8-13, 8-8 MIAC) was forced to foul. The Knights missed the front end of a one-and-one, however, and Kaleb Feahn, the Gusties' leading scorer this season, was fouled with 3.0 seconds remaining. An 87 percent shooter at the charity stripe this year, Feahn missed the first free throw and then attempted to miss the second, but that one somehow went through the rim to make the score 70-69. The Knights were able to take the remaining time off the clock and picked up the victory.
 
This was Tessier's fifth career game with at least 20 points, He added four rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a career-best two blocked shots. Kent Hanson (Sr./St. Paul, Minn./St. Paul Academy) picked up 18 points—12 of them in the second half—along eight rebounds and a career-high seven assists. Meanwhile, Jeremy Beckler (Fy./Lino Lakes, Minn./White Bear Lake) and Battist each scored 11 points, with the latter corralling 10 rebounds to earn his fifth career double-double.
 
Carleton led 7-2 early on, but Gustavus countered with a 16-4 run to open up its largest lead of the game at 18-11 midway through the first half. The visitors led the remainder of the opening period and entered intermission leading 36-33.
 
The Knights opened the second half with a 13-2 run to claim a 46-38 advantage with 16:30 still to play. Gustavus chipped away at the deficit and briefly led 52-51 after a pair of Jake Guse free throws at the 10:36 mark. That advantage lasted only six seconds, as Tessier raced to the hoop for a layup, the first of back-to-back-to-back field goals for the Carleton first-year. That personal 6-0 run pushed the momentum back in the Knights' favor, and the hosts led for the remainder of the game.
 
Nolan Malo paced the Gusties with a 16-point effort. Feahn and Peter Lundquist came off the bench to score 15 and 14 points, respectively.
 
Carleton shot 54 percent from the game, including 61 percent over the second half to help offset a poor performance at the free-throw line (4-of-12, 33 percent). Gustavus Adolphus shot 42 percent on the evening and totaled 11 steals.
 
UP NEXT FOR THE KNIGHTS: Carleton travels to Macalester College for a men's-women's doubleheader on Saturdaym Feb. 8. The men's game begins at 1 p.m. with the women's contest slated for a 3 p.m. tip-off. Live audio of both games will be available on KDHL 920AM in the Northfield/Faribault area and worldwide via athletics.carleton.edu.