Men's Basketball -- Augsburg 70, St. Thomas 60

MINNEAPOLIS -- Devean George (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret HS) had team highs of 36 points and 11 rebounds Wednesday night, leading his Augsburg College men's basketball team to a 70-60 victory over the University of St. Thomas in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball game at Augsburg's Si Melby Hall.

Augsburg, with its 13th straight victory, is now 17-2 overall and 14-1 in the MIAC. St. Thomas drops to 12-7 overall and 10-5 in the MIAC. The win marks the first time Augsburg has swept St. Thomas in a regular-season MIAC series since the 1984-85 season (Augsburg won 66-65 and 85-68). On Jan. 4, Augsburg topped the Tommies 95-74 at St. Thomas.

George, who reached the 2,000-point plateau on Monday against St. Mary's, now has 2,044 points and 757 rebounds in 87 career games. The scoring total is the third-highest in school history, behind Dan Anderson (2,052 points, 1961-65) and current head coach Brian Ammann (2,271 points, 1981-85). He is also third in school history in rebounds. The record, held by Anderson, is 1,211 rebounds.

George, a multiple All-America selection last year, scored in double figures for the 83rd time in his 87-game career, and the 75th time in his last 76 games. The double-double was George's 29th of his career (13th this season), and his scoring performance marked the 58th time in his career that he has scored 20 or more points in a single game, and the 18th time he has scored 30 or more points.

Augsburg slowly pulled away from the Tommies in the second half, after the teams were tied at halftime 26-26. Augsburg pulled to a nine-point lead, 51-44, at the 10:37 mark of the second half, only to see St. Thomas cut the lead to 53-51 two minutes later. Augsburg then outscored the Tommies 17-9 the rest of the way to produce the final margin of victory.

Jason Beckendorf (Jr., Lakeville, Minn.) had 10 points and eight rebounds for the Auggies, while Kevin Van Rossum (Jr., Green Bay, Wis./Preble HS) had nine points, all on three-pointers.

St. Thomas had four players in double figures, led by Joe Buri (Jr., St. Paul, Minn./Trinity HS), who had 16 points. Sean Stephens (Sr., La Crosse, Wis./Aquinas HS) had 13 points and six rebounds, while Matt Arnold (Sr., Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins HS) and Kip Sparby (Jr., Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori HS) each had 12 points. Cole Butler (Fr., Rochester, Minn./Lourdes HS) led all players with 13 rebounds in the game.

Augsburg next plays on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m. at Macalester, while St. Thomas travels to Carleton on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 3 p.m.

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Augsburg College 70, University of St. Thomas 60
Feb. 3, 1999 at Si Melby Hall, Minneapolis, Minn.
Attendance: 1,000.           Officials: John Leesen, Gary Rutz
Technical Fouls: None.

Score by Periods                             1st   2nd   Total
Univ. of St. Thomas (12-7 overall, 10-5 MIAC) 26    34    60
Augsburg College (17-2 overall, 14-1 MIAC)    26    44    70

Univ. of St. Thomas (60)   FGs    3FGs   FTs    O-D--Reb  PF   Pts. Ast. Trn. Blk. Stl. MP
10 Mark Buri               0-3    0-1    0-0    0-2--2    1    0    0    0    0    0    11:21
*12 Sean Stephens          6-12   1-3    0-0    3-3--6    1    13   0    1    0    2    37:43
14 Andy Pilon              0-0    0-0    0-0    0-0--0    1    0    0    1    0    0    3:32
*20 Joe Buri               7-12   1-1    1-3    1-2--3    4    16   1    0    0    1    36:28
*34 Matt Arnold            5-10   1-3    1-2    1-2--3    3    12   0    4    1    2    34:26
40 David Devine            0-0    0-0    2-2    0-1--1    3    2    0    1    0    0    6:51
*50 Cole Butler            2-8    0-0    1-4    3-10--13  4    5    1    4    0    0    33:09
*52 Kip Sparby             5-12   2-7    0-0    1-3--4    4    12   5    5    0    1    36:30
Team                                            0-0--0                   0
Totals                     25-57  5-15   5-11  9-23--32   21   60   7    16   1    6    200:00
Deadball Rebounds: 1
Field-goal shooting: First half--11-25 (40.0%), Second half--14-32 (43.8%), Total--25-57 (43.9%)
Three-point shooting: First half--2-6 (33.3%), Second half--3-9 (33.3%), Total--5-15 (33.3%)
Free-throw shooting: First half--2-6 (33.3%), Second half--3-5 (60.0%), Total--5-11 (45.5%)

Augsburg College (70)      FGs    3FGs   FTs    O-D--Reb  PF   Pts. Ast. Trn. Blk. Stl. MP
*3 Jeoffrey Reed           2-8    0-3    0-0    1-2--3    0    4    3    3    0    2    35:16
*22 Kevin Van Rossum       3-7    3-7    0-0    0-1--1    0    9    1    2    0    0    32:46
24 Josh Natzel             1-1    0-0    0-0    0-0--0    0    2    0    0    0    0    4:44
31 Eric Herried            0-1    0-0    4-4    1-1--2    2    4    3    0    0    0    9:46
32 John Anderson           0-2    0-2    0-0    0-1--1    0    0    0    0    0    0    7:14
33 Adam Erickson           0-0    0-0    0-0    0-0--0    0    0    0    0    0    0    1:19
*40 Devean George          14-24  2-3    6-8    4-7--11   3    36   1    5    0    2    36:18
*43 Jason Beckendorf       4-7    0-1    2-4    2-6--8    1    10   3    1    0    1    32:37
50 Drazen Kasaic           0-1    0-0    3-5    0-2--2    2    3    0    0    0    0    16:45
*52 Kris Long              0-4    0-0    2-5    2-4--6    0    2    1    1    1    0    23:15
Team                                            3-4--7                   0
Totals                     24-55  5-16  17-26  13-28--41  8    70   12   12   1    5   200:00
Deadball Rebounds: 4
Field-goal shooting: First half--11-30 (36.7%), Second half--13-25 (52.0%), Total--24-55 (43.6%)
Three-point shooting: First half--1-7 (14.3%), Second half--4-9 (44.4%), Total--5-16 (31.2%)
Free-throw shooting: First half--3-7 (42.9%), Second half--14-19 (73.7%), Total--17-26 (65.4%)