Box Score The Hamline men's basketball team may have opened a few eyes Wednesday when they walked into St. Thomas' gym and beat the defending national champs by 13 points. A  few more eyebrows might have been raised by what happened Saturday at West Gym in Northfield.

The Pipers held Carleton to just 36 per cent shooting from the field and continued to get impressive play from their bench in a 66-54 win. The normally highflying Knights were held 15 points under their season average. Meanwhile, the Piper bench strutted their stuff, holding a 23-7 edge in points scored. 

Zach Smith, who had 28 points on Wednesday, was again the top Piper netter, scoring 15 points and contributing five assists. Kalu Abosi (23), a starter, added 13 markers with Bret Lukes coming off the bench for 13 more as Hamline, picked for 11th place in the annual coaches' preseason poll, evened their MIAC record at 2-2 ( a half-game out of second place) and improved their overall standing to 5-3. 

HU made their presence felt almost immediately Saturday. The Knights hit a three-pointer to open the scoring. Dylan See-Rockers responded by throwing in two long distance shots to give the Pipers the lead. Carleton regained the lead briefly at 11-10 only to see Hamline rattle off eight points in a 91-second span for a lead they would never give up the rest of the day. 

It was a tenuous 30-25 advantage at halftime for HU. It got even dicier when the Knights got within a pair at 34-32 with 14:49 left in the game. Jay Betts then hit a pair of free throws with Lukes and Smith connecting for baskets in a three-minute span that pushed the lead back to eight. Carleton didn't give in and worked the margin to just three points at 57-54 with 2:34 remaining. That's when the Piper defense went into total lockdown mode and kept the Knights off the scoreboard the rest of the day. 

Hamline has one more game before taking a holiday break. They host Wis-River Falls on Saturday, December 17 at Hutton Arena. Game time is 3:00 p.m.