MINNEAPOLIS - Augsburg College claimed its 14th Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season men's basketball championship Wednesday night, running away with a 77-60 victory over Carleton College before 1,000 fans at Augsburg's Si Melby Hall.
The regular-season championship is the second title in a row for Augsburg, which improves to 21-2 overall and 18-1 in the MIAC with its 17th straight victory. Carleton, which entered the game tied for third place in the MIAC, drops to 14-9 overall and 11-8 in the MIAC.
Augsburg, rated No. 2 in the NCAA Division III West Region and No. 9 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division III national poll, will host a conference playoff semifinal against the fourth-place conference finisher on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Si Melby Hall. If the Auggies win, they would also host the conference playoff final on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m., also at Si Melby Hall. The conference playoff champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III national tournament.
The conference crown marks the seventh time that Augsburg has won back-to-back MIAC regular-season championships. Previous back-to-back titles came in 1984 and 1985; 1980 and 1981; 1975, 1976 and 1977 and 1963, 1964 and 1965. The Auggies also won conference crowns in 1946 and 1927. Augsburg's 1981 championship was later forfeited because two reserve transfer players were found to have insufficient credit hours.
Devean George (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret HS) led all scorers with 24 points and 12 rebounds, along with an assist, blocked shot and three steals. George now has 2,129 career points and 812 career rebounds, both second in school history. The school's career scoring record, 2,271 points, is held by current head coach Brian Ammann (1981-85). He is also second in school history in career rebounds. The record, held by Dan Anderson (1961-65), is 1,211 rebounds.
George, a multiple All-America selection last year, scored in double figures for the 87th time in his 91-game career, and the 80th time in his last 81 games. The double-double was George's 32nd of his career (17th this season), and his scoring performance marked the 59th time in his career that he has scored 20 or more points in a single game.
George was one of three Auggies to score in double figures, aided by
Jeoffrey Reed (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./De La Salle HS), who had 14 points, two assists and two steals, and
Kevin Van Rossum (Jr., Green Bay, Wis./Preble HS), who had 12 points on four 3-pointers.
Jason Beckendorf (Jr., Lakeville, Minn.) had nine points and seven rebounds, while
Kris Long (Sr., Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti HS) had six points and nine rebounds.
Josh Wilhelm (Sr., Minnetonka, Minn.) became Carleton's all-time leading scorer in the game with his team-high 24 point, six-rebound, three-steal effort. Wilhelm now has 1,920 career points, breaking the school's previous record of 1,903, set by Gerrick Monroe (1989-93). He also has 761 career rebounds, second in school history to Mark Wandmacher's (1980-84) 838.
Paul Novotny (Jr., Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park HS) had 23 points and four rebounds, the only other Knight to score more than four points in the game. Ben Pearson (Fr., Bloomington, Minn./St. Thomas Academy) led the Knights with seven rebounds.
Augsburg finishes its regular season at Hamline on Saturday, while Carleton plays at St. Olaf. Both games start at 3 p.m.
Augsburg 77, Carleton 60
Feb. 17, 1999 at Si Melby Hall, Minneapolis, Minn.
Attendance: 1,000.
Officials: Tom Perreault and Gary Putz.
Technical Fouls: None.
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Carleton College (14-9 overall, 11-8 MIAC) 32 28 60
Augsburg College (21-2 overall, 18-1 MIAC) 39 38 77
Carleton College (60) FGs 3FGs FTs O-D--Reb PF Pts. Ast. Trn. Blk. Stl. MP
*11 Brandon Moersch 0-3 0-0 0-0 0-0--0 1 0 3 5 0 2 18:10
13 Jeff Jensen 1-2 1-2 0-0 0-0--0 0 3 0 0 1 0 4:54
15 Matt Stangl 1-6 0-3 0-0 0-1--1 1 2 4 4 0 0 21:16
21 Peter Kiedrowski 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0--0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0:29
*23 Paul Riedner 1-6 0-3 0-0 0-2--2 2 2 1 2 0 1 23:52
*25 Matt Tompkins 0-2 0-1 0-0 0-0--0 1 0 1 0 0 1 13:58
31 Ben Pearson 1-4 0-1 2-2 2-5--7 2 4 2 0 1 0 24:15
*33 Paul Novotny 10-16 1-2 2-2 1-3--4 1 23 0 2 0 1 34:53
35 Mike Binder 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1--1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1:20
43 Steve Knutson 1-4 0-2 0-0 1-2--3 0 2 0 0 0 1 20:49
45 James Skjong 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0--0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0:29
*51 Josh Wilhelm 11-20 0-1 2-2 3-3--6 3 24 2 1 1 3 35:06
53 Janaki Fisher-Merritt 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0--0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0:29
Team 1-4--5 0
Totals 26-63 2-15 6-6 8-21--29 12 60 13 14 4 9 200:00
Deadball Rebounds: 0
Field-goal shooting: First half--14-32 (43.8%), Second half--12-31 (38.7%), Total--26-63 (41.3%)
Three-point shooting: First half--0-5 (0.0%), Second half--2-10 (20.0%), Total--2-15 (13.3%)
Free-throw shooting: First half--4-4 (100.0%), Second half--2-2 (100.0%), Total--6-6 (100.0%)
Augsburg College (77) FGs 3FGs FTs O-D--Reb PF Pts. Ast. Trn. Blk. Stl. MP
*3 Jeoffrey Reed 7-10 0-1 0-0 1-3--4 1 14 2 2 1 2 30:29
*22 Kevin Van Rossum 4-8 4-8 0-0 0-0--0 0 12 1 1 0 1 27:32
24 Josh Natzel 2-3 1-2 0-0 0-1--1 2 5 0 1 0 0 9:31
31 Eric Herried 0-2 0-1 0-0 2-1--3 0 0 2 1 0 0 5:58
32 John Anderson 1-6 0-3 0-0 1-0--1 0 2 1 0 0 1 13:25
33 Adam Erickson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0--0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3:37
*40 Devean George 10-19 0-3 4-4 3-9--12 3 24 1 5 1 3 33:06
*43 Jason Beckendorf 4-8 1-3 0-2 2-5--7 2 9 3 3 0 0 24:26
45 Kyle Crubel 0-3 0-1 0-0 2-1--3 0 0 0 0 0 0 11:56
50 Drazen Kasaic 2-3 0-0 1-1 0-0--0 3 5 1 2 0 3 15:25
*52 Kris Long 1-3 0-0 4-5 2-7--9 3 6 0 2 3 0 24:35
Team 2-2--4 0
Totals 31-65 6-22 9-12 15-29--44 14 77 11 18 5 10 200:00
Deadball Rebounds: 1
Field-goal shooting: First half--15-34 (44.1%), Second half--16-31 (51.6%), Total--31-65 (47.7%)
Three-point shooting: First half--2-9 (22.2%), Second half--4-13 (30.8%), Total--6-22 (27.3%)
Free-throw shooting: First half--7-8 (87.5%), Second half--2-4 (50.0%), Total--9-12 (75.0%)
