DULUTH, Minn. - Jeremy Beckler (Jr./Lino Lakes, Minn./White Bear Lake) notched his second consecutive double-double as the Carleton College men's basketball team picked up a 67-57 road victory against the College of St. Scholastica. The triumph gave the Knights a sweep of the season series as well as a guaranteed top-four finish in the MIAC's regular season standings, and with it not only a first-round bye in the altered MIAC playoff format for 2022 but also a home game during the quarterfinal round.
 
Beckler's double-double was the third of his career, as he finished with 17 points, and 10 rebounds. He added a career-high seven assists, matching the team-high this season. Luke Harris (Fy./Piedmont, Calif./Piedmont) was the only other Knight to score in double figures, as he contributed 14 points to go along with eight rebounds, while Alex Battist (Sr./Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) finished a bucket and a board shy of his own double-double with eight points and nine rebounds.
 
The Knights (14-4, 11-3 MIAC) opened up the game looking like a team which had just come off of a more than three-hour bus ride. That, combined with the fact that the first 90 seconds of the game were played using a women's regulation basketball instead of a men's one, led to some poor shooting to open up the period.
 
At the 11-minute mark of the first half, Carleton held a 10-9 lead as the Knights made only 3-of-13 field goal attempts over the first nine minutes of the game, while St. Scholastica (3-17, 1-14 MIAC) went 3-for-15 over the same stretch.
 
The offense efficiency eventually picked up, but not by much. All told, the teams shot a combined 36.7 percent overall and a disappointing 24 percent (8-of-33) from 3-point range over the first 20 minutes.
 
The sides traded the lead 12 times in the period, the last coming on Alex Gibbens' (So./New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) second three-pointer of the day shortly before halftime, eventually allowing Carleton to possess a 31-30 edge at intermission.
 
The Saints scored the first five points of the second half and took their largest lead of the contest at 35-31 with 17:59 still to play. Carleton countered with a 13-4 run of its own, bolstered by three Beck Page (Jr./Longmont, Colo./Longmont) triples, the last of which gave Carleton a 42-39 lead with 14:52 remaining. The Knights would not relinquish the lead the remainder of the contest.
 
While the Saints would make it interesting after pulling to within 50-48 with 7:18 showing on the scoreboard, the Carleton defense took over and yielded only a single point over the next five minutes. Meanwhile, the Knights worked the ball into the lane and opened up a double-digit lead.
 
Harris scored 8 of his 14 points over the final three minutes to keep Carleton in control of the contest.
 
It was mostly a two-man show on offense for St. Scholastica, as Quinn Fischer matched his season high of 21 points, and Nick Carlson added 15 points and 10 rebounds, including a few clutch three-pointers in the Saints' effort to come back. No other Saint had more than five points or rebounds.
 
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton plays its final road game of the regular season at Hamline University on Wednesday, Feb 9 at 7:00 p.m.