MINNEAPOLIS (2/25/99) --
Devean George (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret HS) scored 36 points and pulled down 14 rebounds for his 10th straight double-double performance, leading his Augsburg College men's basketball team to a 99-63 victory over Carleton College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoff semifinal game Thursday night at Si Melby Hall.
Augsburg, MIAC regular season champions and rated No. 2 in the NCAA Division III West Region and No. 7 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division III national poll, claimed its 19th straight victory and improved to 23-2 overall. Carleton finished its season with a 15-10 overall record.
Augsburg will host the MIAC playoff championship game on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. against Gustavus Adolphus College (20-5), which claimed a 71-57 victory over Bethel College (16-9) in the other MIAC semifinal game Thursday night. (Click here for the GAC/Bethel game boxscore) The winner earns an automatic bid to the 48-team NCAA Division III National Tournament. Augsburg and Gustavus split their two meetings in conference play this season, each winning on the other team's courts.
The win was Augsburg's first in the postseason since March 11, 1981, when the Auggies beat Kearney State (Neb.) 81-77 in its last appearance in the NAIA national tournament. Augsburg had lost its last eight straight playoff games, including all four of its previous appearances in the MIAC playoffs, three games in the NCAA Division III national playoffs (1985 and 1998) and one NAIA national tournament game (1981).
George hit five three-pointers in his first six shots of the game, giving Augsburg a commanding 24-13 lead at the 12:09 mark of the first half. Augsburg pulled the lead to as high as 40-19 in the first half, leading 44-23 at halftime. George had 26 points and eight rebounds at halftime. He also ended the game with two blocked shots in just under 30 minutes of playing time.
George now has 2,194 career points and 839 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 89th time in his 93-game career, and the 82nd time in his last 83 games. The double-double was George's 35th of his career (19th this season). His scoring performance marked the 61st time in his career that he has scored 20 or more points in a single game, and the 21st time he has scored 30 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 12 points and three steals, and
Kris Long (Sr., Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti HS), who had 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists. All 15 Auggies saw action in the game, and 12 Auggies scored in the game.
Josh Wilhelm (Sr., Minnetonka, Minn.) who became Carleton's all-time leading scorer the last time the two teams played (a 77-60 Augsburg win on Feb. 17), finished with a team-high 22 points and eight rebounds. He ended his career with 1,967 career points and 778 career rebounds. The rebounding total is second in school history to Mark Wandmacher's (1980-84) 838.
Paul Novotny (Jr., Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park HS) added 15 points and five rebounds for the Knights, while Matt Stangl (Fr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley HS) had 10 points.
Augsburg is now 1-4 in its fifth appearance in the MIAC playoffs. Augsburg also appeared in the MIAC playoffs in 1985, 1986, 1997 and 1998. Carleton drops to 1-9 in its ninth appearance in the MIAC playoffs. The Knights also appeared in the MIAC playoffs in 1987, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1997.
MIAC Men's Basketball Playoff Semifinals
Augsburg 99, Carleton 63
Feb. 25, 1999 at Si Melby Hall, Minneapolis, Minn.
Attendance: 1,500.
Officials: Mike Spannier, John Leeser, Tom Perreault (alternate)
Technical Fouls: None.
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Carleton College (15-10 overall) 23 40 63
Augsburg College (23-2 overall) 44 55 99
Carleton College (63) FGs 3FGs FTs O-D--Reb PF Pts. Ast. Trn. Blk. Stl. MP
*11 Brandon Moersch 2-3 0-1 0-0 0-2--2 0 4 2 5 1 4 21:49
13 Jeff Jensen 0-2 0-2 2-2 0-1--1 0 2 0 1 0 0 4:43
15 Matt Stangl 2-4 2-3 4-4 2-0--2 2 10 2 5 0 1 23:42
21 Peter Kiedrowski 1-1 0-0 0-0 0-0--0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2:42
*23 Paul Riedner 0-3 0-2 1-2 0-1--1 2 1 1 1 0 0 22:42
*25 Matt Tompkins 0-4 0-4 0-0 0-2--2 1 0 1 1 0 1 20:30
31 Ben Pearson 1-3 0-2 0-0 1-0--1 1 2 0 1 0 0 19:45
*33 Paul Novotny 6-12 2-4 1-1 3-2--5 3 15 0 2 0 1 32:22
43 Steve Knutson 1-2 1-2 0-0 0-1--1 0 3 0 0 0 1 13:20
*51 Josh Wilhelm 7-20 0-0 8-9 1-7--8 0 22 1 3 2 0 35:43
53 Janaki Fisher-Merritt 0-1 0-0 2-2 0-0--0 0 2 0 0 1 0 2:42
Team 0-4--4 0
Totals 20-55 5-20 18-20 7-20--27 9 63 7 19 4 7 200:00
Deadball Rebounds: 0
Field-goal shooting: First half--8-28 (28.6%), Second half--12-27 (44.4%), Total--20-55 (36.4%)
Three-point shooting: First half--2-11 (18.2%), Second half--3-9 (33.3%), Total--5-20 (25.0%)
Free-throw shooting: First half--5-6 (83.3%), Second half--13-14 (92.9%), Total--18-20 (90.0%)
Augsburg College (99) FGs 3FGs FTs O-D--Reb PF Pts. Ast. Trn. Blk. Stl. MP
*3 Jeoffrey Reed 5-8 2-3 0-0 0-3--3 0 12 0 1 0 3 26:52
12 Kyle Renner 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0--0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0:53
*22 Kevin Van Rossum 2-4 2-4 0-0 0-1--1 1 6 2 0 0 0 24:30
24 Josh Natzel 1-1 0-0 0-0 0-0--0 1 2 1 1 0 1 10:26
31 Eric Herried 1-3 1-3 0-0 0-0--0 1 3 0 0 0 0 8:58
32 John Anderson 2-5 2-4 1-2 1-2--3 1 7 0 2 0 1 12:48
33 Adam Erickson 2-3 1-1 0-0 0-1--1 0 5 0 1 0 0 4:54
34 Andrew Lind 0-0 0-0 0-0 1-0--1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2:42
35 Chris Ohnstad 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-0--0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2:42
*40 Devean George 15-27 6-12 0-2 2-12--14 2 36 1 0 2 0 29:51
*43 Jason Beckendorf 3-5 1-2 2-2 0-2--2 2 9 3 2 0 3 24:58
44 Adam Storry 1-2 0-0 0-0 1-0--1 1 2 0 0 0 0 2:04
45 Kyle Crubel 1-1 0-0 0-0 0-4--4 1 2 0 0 0 0 11:04
50 Drazen Kasaic 2-3 0-0 0-0 3-3--6 3 4 3 2 1 1 16:58
*52 Kris Long 5-8 0-0 1-1 5-2--7 2 11 5 5 0 2 20:20
Team 0-0--0 0
Totals 40-71 15-29 4-7 13-30--43 15 99 15 14 3 12 200:00
Deadball Rebounds: 1
Field-goal shooting: First half--18-33 (54.5%), Second half--22-38 (57.9%), Total--40-71 (56.3%)
Three-point shooting: First half--7-14 (50.0%), Second half--8-15 (53.3%), Total--15-29 (51.7%)
Free-throw shooting: First half--1-4 (25.0%), Second half--3-3 (100.0%), Total--4-7 (57.1%)
