DECORAH, Iowa – The Luther College men's basketball team has done it again. It was a new hero, new setting, but the Norse were once again victorious by the slimmest of margins: one point. Fueled by a second half rally, Luther won its third consecutive game in dramatic fashion, using free throws by Mikkel Schutte (Houston, Minn. / Houston) in the final second to beat the Buena Vista Beavers 44-43. With the victory, the Norse are now 6-13 and 3-8 in American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) play.
DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK (BUT DO)
It's safe to say nothing was going Luther's way in the first half Saturday afternoon. The Norse shot .241 from the free throw line in the opening half, including a sub .200 mark from beyond the arc. On the flip side, everything was going right for Buena Vista. The Beavers could not miss in the opening five minutes of play, specifically Noah Valdez. The shooting guard scored 12 points for Buena Vista in the opening 10 minutes of play, shooting 4-4 from three point land before finally missing a shot under nine minutes to go in the half. By then, the damage was seemingly already done. The Beavers led Luther 20-9 before extending their lead to 28-9 with an eight point run.
The Norse showed some life, though, in the closing five minutes of the first half, whittling the Buena Vista lead to 30-19. Mat Rohden (Joinville, Brazil / Juan Diego Catholic) kickstarted Luther's run with a three-point play before Matthew Franzen (Decorah, Iowa / Decorah) cut the lead to 13 points at 28-19. While the Beavers answered Franzen's three with a layup of their own, Randall Days (Colorado Springs, Colo. / Widefield) connected for a three with 17 seconds left, cutting the Buena Vista lead to a seemingly manageable 30-19 at halftime.
Still, things did not look good for the Norse coming out of the locker room at half. The Beavers were once again getting everything to fall, as they pushed their lead back out to 18 points at 37-19. That was when Luther went to work, as the team's comeback started with three straight plays from Mitchell Schmieder (Wellman, Iowa / Iowa Mennonite). The senior stopped the bleeding at 16:09, as his first basket of the night cut the Buena Vista lead to 37-21, but his defensive rebound on the Beavers next offensive possession may have been the turning point for the Norse. Schmieder pulled in the rebound and went around and scored another basket, making it 37-23 with 15:14 to play.
After Schmieder's basket, Luther's defense went on lockdown, surrendering just six points to Buena Vista in the final 15 minutes of the game. Rohden and Tim Mewborn (Colorado Springs, Colo. / Widefield) cut the Beaver lead to 39-30 before Wednesday's hero, Andrew Lazinbat (San Antonio, Texas / Brandies), made it 41-33 with 9:01 left to play. His three sparked an eight point scoring run for the Norse, capped by a Rhoden layup to make it 41-41 with 3:40 remaining in the game.
The closing three minutes flew by, though neither team did much scoring until the final minute. With just over a minute to play, the Beavers took a two-point lead to 43-41, giving Luther 64 seconds to tie or take a lead. Ben Gill (Sydney, Australia / Newington College) got the Norse within one, going 1-2 at the free throw line, before another defensive stand for Luther gave the home team the ball with 16 seconds left on the clock. A flurry of activity ensued in the Norse's next offensive possession. Franzen missed a three, but Lazinbat came up with the rebound, feeding the ball to Schutte with three seconds on the clock. Schutte was fouled on his desperation shot, sending the junior to the free throw line with 1.5 on the clock. He connected on the first free throw before Buena Vista called timeout, trying to ice the shooter. It was to no avail. Schutte drained the second free throw, allowing head coach Mark Franzen to call a timeout to plan a defensive strategy.
The Beavers could not advance the ball up the court, meaning their only option was a desperate heave down the floor. Little did anyone realize that, during the timeout, Franzen subbed in the speedy Myke Shed (Teague, Texas / Teague) for Gill. The substitution paid off. As Buena Vista did its best Aaron Rogers impression, Shed flew through the sky to nab the interception, securing the 44-43 victory for the Norse.
TOP NORSE
- Mat Rohden (Joinville, Brazil / Juan Diego Catholic) led the team in points, as he scored 11 on 4-8 shooting Saturday afternoon. Ben Gill (Sydney, Australia / Newington College) and Andrew Lazinbat (San Antonio, Texas / Brandies) each added seven.
- Matthew Franzen (Decorah, Iowa / Decorah) led the team with seven rebounds.
NOTEWORTHY
Luther extended its win streak to three games Saturday night, the longest such win streak for the Norse since the 2018-19 season. Luther won four games in a row from December 8, 2018 to December 30, 2018, defeating teams such as Crown, Cornell, Suffolk and Connecticut.
The last time the Norse put together a 3+ game win streak against conference opponents occurred in 2013-14 when the A-R-C was the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC). Luther defeated six conference teams from January 22, 2014 to February 8, 2014, marking this the longest conference win streak for the Norse since those dates. Additionally, it is the longest such streak for Luther since the IIAC became the A-R-C in 2016.
UP NEXT
The Norse will look to extend their win streak to four on the road, as they are set to take on Wartburg College on Wednesday, February 1. Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Waverly, Iowa.
