SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Alex Battist (Sr./Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) poured in a team-best 18 points and Jeremy Beckler (Jr./Lino Lakes, Minn./White Bear Lake) added a 16-point effort as the Carleton College men's basketball team opened play at the Leslie Robinson Thanksgiving Classic with a 72-65 victory over Southwestern University (TX).
 
Both teams got off to hots starts offensively, as Carleton (2-1) carried a 47-42 lead into intermission. The Knights shot 62 percent over the first 20 minutes while Southwestern (2-6) made 55 percent of its attempts over the same span.
 
After halftime, the defenses took over, as Carleton outscored the Pirates by a 25-23 margin and limited Southwestern to 29 percent shooting in the second half.

"This was a very nice win against a worthy opponent in Southwestern," said Carleton head coach Guy Kalland. "Our guys battled down the stretch to come up with some big stops. We made just enough plays down the stretch to pull out a nice win."
 
Beckler's jumper gave Carleton its largest lead of the afternoon at 27-13 at the midpoint in the first half. Southwestern countered with a 29-14 surge spanning the next nine minutes to briefly take the lead, but the final 45 seconds of the period saw Battist and Beckler convert layups and Brad Lee (Jr./La Canada Flintridge, Calif./Maranatha) knock down a pair of free throws to allow the Knights to take the five-point advantage into the locker room.
 
Battist carried the offensive load early for Carleton, scoring 17 of his 18 points in the first half. His impact at the defensive end was felt during the second period as he totaled five defensive rebounds, a steal and each of his career-best five blocks.
 
A 10-0 spurt for Southwestern gave the Pirates their largest lead of the day at 54-50 with 14:49 still to play. Carleton answered with a 10-2 run, including four points by Beckler and 3-pointers from Luke Harris (Fy./Piedmont, Calif./Piedmont) and Miles Frisch (So./Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie).
 
Southwestern knotted the score at 60-60 with 4:00 still on the clock before Beckler drained a pair of free throws and Alex Gibbens (So./New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) converted a pair of tough layups to spark the Knights' game-ending 12-5 run.
 
Beckler tallied 10 of Carleton's 25 points after halftime while Gibbens finished with 11 points and a game-high and career-best seven assists. Beck Page (Jr./Longmont, Colo./Longmont) chipped in nine points, while Harris accounted for seven points, five rebounds, two assists, and a steal.
 
Spencer Goetz (Fy./Chaska, Minn./Chaska) may not have scored a point in the game, but he made everyone around him better and registered an impressive plus-17 in the +/- ratio during his 19 minutes of court time.
 
Southwestern's Kyle Poerschke led all scorers with 22 points.
 
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will face host Trinity University (TX) at 4:00pm on Saturday, Nov. 27.