Men's Basketball -- Augsburg 78, Bethel 72

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. (12/12/98) -- Devean George (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret HS) and Kevin Van Rossum (Jr., Green Bay, Wis./Preble HS) each scored 21 points, leading Augsburg College to a 78-72 victory over host Bethel College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball contest Saturday afternoon at Bethel's Robertson Center.

George had a game-high 19 rebounds for the Auggies, who bounced back from an earlier loss this week against Gustavus to improve to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the MIAC. Bethel falls to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the MIAC.

The Auggies countered an impressive game from Bethel's Eric Joldersma (Sr., Milaca, Minn.), last year's conference scoring champion (Augsburg's George was second). Joldersma had 33 points and 14 rebounds in his 39 minutes of action, going a perfect 11-of-11 at the free-throw line. Jeff Eklund (Sr., Braham, Minn.) added 18 points for the Royals.

Augsburg trailed by 10 points late in the first half, and was behind 37-29 at the halftime break. But the Auggies clawed back into the game and took the lead at the 15:20 mark, 45-43, on a shot from Kris Long (Sr., Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti HS), who had 11 points and six rebounds in the game. The lead switched hands three times after that, with George putting the Auggies ahead to stay on a field goal with 4:01 to play, 65-64. Augsburg was put to the free-throw line six times in the final 4:01, making 8-of-11.

Jeoffrey Reed (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./DeLaSalle HS) had 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals in the contest for Augsburg. Van Rossum, who was scoreless against Gustavus on Wednesday, hit five 3-pointers and went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in his 21-point effort against Bethel. Long was 7-for-6 from the charity stripe.

Augsburg has the holiday break off and will return to action Jan. 2, hosting St. Mary's University at 3 p.m. at Si Melby Hall. Bethel also has a break before returning Jan. 2, hosting Carleton at 3 p.m

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Augsburg 78, Bethel 72
Dec. 12, 1998 at Robertson Center, Arden Hills, Minn.
Attendance: 1,100.
Technical Fouls: None.

Score by Periods                             1st   2nd   Total
Augsburg College (5-2 overall, 2-1 MIAC)      29    49    78
Bethel College (4-2 overall, 1-1 MIAC)        37    35    72

Augsburg College (78)      FGs    3FGs   FTs    O-D--Reb  PF   Pts. Ast. Trn. Blk. Stl. MP
*3 Jeoffrey Reed           5-11   2-4    0-0    3-2--5    1    12   3    2    0    2    29
*22 Kevin Van Rossum       6-15   5-13   4-4    0-1--1    1    21   0    0    0    0    32
24 Josh Natzel             1-2    0-1    0-0    0-3--3    1    2    1    2    0    1    11
32 John Anderson           2-10   1-8    0-0    1-0--1    1    5    0    1    0    0    16
33 Adam Erickson           0-1    0-0    0-0    2-0--2    2    0    0    2    0    1    9
35 Chris Ohnstad           0-0    0-0    2-2    0-0--0    0    2    0    0    0    0    1
*40 Devean George          9-15   0-3    3-5    6-13--19  4    21   1    3    1    2    34
*43 Jason Beckendorf       2-5    0-3    3-5    1-3--4    2    4    2    2    0    0    23
45 Kyle Crubel             0-2    0-1    0-0    0-0--0    3    0    0    0    0    1    10
50 Drazen Kasaic           0-0    0-0    0-0    0-0--0    0    0    0    0    0    0    1
*52 Kris Long              2-8    0-0    7-7    1-5--6    5    11   1    5    1    0    34
Team                                            0-2--2                   0
Totals                     27-69  8-33  16-19  14-29--43  20   78   8    17   2    7    200:00
Deadball Rebounds: 1
Field-goal shooting: First half--11-35 (31.4%), Second half--16-34 (47.1%), Total--27-69 (39.1%)
Three-point shooting: First half--3-13 (23.1%), Second half--5-20 (25.0%), Total--8-33 (24.2%)
Free-throw shooting: First half--4-4 (100.0%), Second half--12-15 (80.0%), Total--16-19 (84.2%)

Bethel College (72)        FGs    3FGs   FTs    O-D--Reb  PF   Pts. Ast. Trn. Blk. Stl. MP
*00 Eric Joldersma         11-25  0-3   11-11   6-8--14   2    33   0    3    1    2    39
3 Jesse Peterson           1-6    0-0    0-0    0-0--0    0    2    0    1    0    0    9
4 Ben Matthews             0-1    0-0    0-0    0-2--2    3    0    0    2    0    0    10
*20 Trevor Duininck        2-10   1-2    0-2    0-2--2    4    5    0    3    0    1    31
*21 Jeff Eklund            5-13   3-7    5-5    0-2--2    0    18   4    1    0    3    39
*32 Marc Johnson           1-6    0-1    4-4    1-6--7    4    6    1    5    1    2    30
35 Kevin Osell             0-0    0-0    0-0    0-3--3    1    0    1    0    0    0    9
42 Trevor Larson           0-0    0-0    0-0    0-0--0    1    0    0    0    0    0    1
*44 Jeff Robertson         3-5    0-0    2-2    3-5--8    2    8    0    0    0    0    31
52 Mitch Bolin             0-0    0-0    0-0    0-0--0    0    0    0    0    0    0    1
Team                                            2-2--4                   0
Totals                     23-66  4-13  22-24  12-30--42  17   72   6    15   2    8    200:00
Deadball Rebounds: 4
Field-goal shooting: First half--11-32 (34.4%), Second half--12-34 (35.3%), Total--23-66 (34.8%)
Three-point shooting: First half--4-9 (44.4%), Second half--0-4 (0.0%), Total--4-13 (30.8%)
Free-throw shooting: First half--11-11 (100.0%), Second half--11-13 (84.6%), Total--22-24 (91.7%)