Men's Basketball -- Augsburg 82, Carleton 78
NORTHFIELD, Minn. (2/16/00) -- Rallying from a 15-point deficit with 11:47 remaining in the second half, the Augsburg College men's basketball team clinched a first-round conference postseason playoff game with an 82-78 win over Carleton College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest Wednesday night at Carleton's West Gym.
Combined with St. Thomas' (20-4 overall, 17-3 MIAC) 70-53 road win at St. John's (17-6 overall, 13-6 MIAC) on Wednesday, Augsburg (15-7 overall, 14-5 MIAC) clinched a second-place conference finish and a home postseason playoff game, based on the conference's tiebreaker scenarios. Augsburg will host the third-place team in the conference in the MIAC semifinals on Thursday, Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at Si Melby Hall. Conference champion St. Thomas will host the fourth-place team on Thursday. St. John's and Bethel (14-9 overall, 12-7 MIAC) have also clinched playoff berths.
With the loss to the Auggies, Carleton drops to 8-15 overall and 5-14 in the MIAC. The loss thwarted Carleton's attempt to win three straight conference games for the first time this year. Carleton split the season series 1-1 with Augsburg.
Leading 36-35 at halftime, Carleton pulled ahead 59-44 at the 11:47 mark, as Steve Knutson (Jr., Eden Praire, Minn.) hit three three-point shots in a row.
Augsburg then ran off a 23-7 stretch over a five-minute period to take its first lead of the second half, 67-66. Kevin Van Rossum (Sr., Green Bay, Wis./Preble HS) had two of his six 3-pointers during that five-minute stretch, along with three-pointers from Jeoffrey Reed (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./De La Salle HS), Travis Hinze (Jr., Janesville, Minn./Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton HS) and Chris York (Fr., Burnsville, Minn.).
Three-point shooting dominated the game from start to finish. The Knights hit 52.2 percent (12 of 23) of their long shots, while Augsburg sank 12 of 23 three-pointers for 40 percent. Both teams were on target from the field all night with Carleton shooting 60.8 percent (31 of 51) from the field and Augsburg hitting 32 of 54 for 59.3 percent. The Knights led by a small margin throughout most of the first half on the strength of 57.7 percent (12 of 26) field goal shooting.
Van Rossum connected on six 3-pointers for the second game in row to lead Augsburg in scoring with 21 points, moving his career scoring total to 989 points, good for 15th place on the school's all-time scoring list. The school's three-point field goal record-holder, Van Rossum now has 230 career three-pointers.
Reed had 13 points, including three 3-pointers, while Matt Davis (Jr., Marshall, Minn.) had 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Jason Beckendorf (Sr., Lakeville, Minn.) notched 10 points. Hinze had nine points and five steals.
Mike Binder (Sr., West St. Paul, Minn.) scored 23 points to lead Carleton in his last appearance at West Gym. Knutson hit six of 10 three-point shots for all 18 of his points, while dishing out six assists. Jeff Jensen (Jr., Billings, Mont.) and Steve Nuessle (So., Bloomington, Minn.) also scored in double figures with 13 and 12 points respectively. Carleton's other senior, James Skjong (Sr., Tyler, Minn.) started the game and scored six points in his final home game.
Augsburg hosts Hamline in the regular-season finale on Saturday afternoon (2/19) at 3 p.m. at Si Melby Hall. The Knights will travel to crosstown rival St. Olaf Saturday for their final contest of the season.
All FG 3 Pt -FT- Rebounds
Augsburg M- A M- A M- A Off Def Tot PF-D Pts A TO BLK STL Min
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*Josh Natzel 2- 3 0- 1 0- 0 0 0 0 1-0 4 1 0 0 0 13
*Jason Beckendorf 4- 6 1- 3 1- 2 0 3 3 0-0 10 2 1 0 0 26
*Matt Davis 6- 7 0- 0 2- 6 4 3 7 2-0 14 3 3 1 2 31
*Kevin Van Rossum 7- 16 6-15 1- 2 0 2 2 0-0 21 3 2 0 0 37
Jeoffrey Reed 5- 11 3- 7 0- 0 0 2 2 0-0 13 4 2 0 3 27
Chris York 2- 2 1- 1 0- 0 0 0 0 3-0 5 6 0 0 2 14
Nate Hoerr 3- 4 0- 0 0- 0 1 3 4 1-0 6 0 2 0 1 18
Travis Hinze 3- 5 1- 3 2- 3 0 1 1 0-0 9 0 1 0 5 24
Kyle Crubel 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0 0 0 1-0 0 0 0 0 0 10
Team 1 1 2 0 0
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Augsburg 32- 54 12-30 6-13 6 15 21 8-0 82 19 11 1 13 200
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-- First Half -- - Second Half - ---- Total ----
All FG 14- 25 56.0% 18- 29 62.1% 32- 54 59.3% Deadball
3 Pt FG 5- 13 38.5% 7- 17 41.2% 12- 30 40.0% Rebounds: 2
FT 2- 7 28.6% 4- 6 66.7% 6- 13 46.2%
All FG 3 Pt -FT- Rebounds
Carleton College M- A M- A M- A Off Def Tot PF-D Pts A TO BLK STL Min
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*Mike Binder 10- 17 1- 4 2- 3 0 4 4 4-0 23 1 3 0 0 32
*Steve Knutson 6- 10 6-10 0- 0 0 2 2 1-0 18 6 4 0 1 37
*James Skjong 3- 4 0- 1 0- 0 2 1 3 1-0 6 3 0 0 0 18
*Steve Nuessle 5- 9 0- 0 2- 2 2 2 4 2-0 12 1 2 0 1 33
*Peter Kiedrowski 2- 3 2- 3 0- 0 1 5 6 2-0 6 5 3 0 1 34
Jeff Jensen 5- 8 3- 5 0- 0 1 1 2 2-0 13 4 2 0 3 30
Brody Felchle 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0 3 3 2-0 0 0 3 0 0 16
Team 0 3 3 0 1
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Carleton College 31- 51 12-23 4- 5 6 21 27 14-0 78 20 18 0 6 200
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-- First Half -- - Second Half - ---- Total ----
All FG 15- 26 57.7% 16- 25 64.0% 31- 51 60.8% Deadball
3 Pt FG 6- 12 50.0% 6- 11 54.5% 12- 23 52.2% Rebounds: 0
FT 0- 0 0.0% 4- 5 80.0% 4- 5 80.0%
Technical Fouls: None
Scoring by Period
1 2 Tot
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Augsburg 35 47 82
Carleton College 36 42 78
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Attendance: 400
Officials: Carl Britt, Dave Firklis, Gary Putz
