Men's Basketball -- MIAC Playoff Semifinals -- St. John's 58, Augsburg 57
MINNEAPOLIS (2/24/00) -- Troy Bigalke (Jr., Monticello, Minn.) hit two free throws with six seconds remaining to give St. John's University a 58-57 win over host Augsburg College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball playoff semifinal game on Thursday night at Si Melby Hall.
St. John's, now 19-6 overall, advances to play St. Thomas (21-4), which beat Bethel (14-11) 79-70 in the other semifinal game Thursday, in the playoff championship game on Saturday night (2/26) at 7:30 p.m. at UST's Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minn. Augsburg ended its season 16-8 overall.
After trailing 35-28 to Augsburg at halftime, the Johnnies took over the tempo of the game and slowly rallied to tie and take a four-point lead, 43-39, at the 10:56 mark of the second half. Augsburg came back to take a six-point lead, 52-46 at the 5:33 mark on two 3-pointers by
Kevin Van Rossum (Sr., Green Bay, Wis./Preble HS) and one by
Chris York (Fr., Burnsville, Minn.).
But the Johnnies rallied again and cut the lead to one point, 55-54, on a driving layup by Bigalke. The Auggies brought the ball to halfcourt and called time out with 34 seconds remaining. But the Auggies were forced to call time out two more times on inbounds attempts, finally getting the ball in and forcing a foul against SJU's Luke Witt (So., Red Wing, Minn.).
Jeoffrey Reed (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./De La Salle HS) hit two free throws with 22 seconds left to put Augsburg ahead 57-54. St. John's drove the ball and after two misses and offensive rebounds, Mike Nester (So., Redwood Falls, Minn.) hit a layup with 11 seconds remaining. Augsburg turned the ball over on the inbounds pass, giving the Johnnies the ball underneath their own basket.
Reed, who shared MIAC Player of the Year honors with Bigalke this season, fouled Bigalke with six seconds remaining. Bigalke hit two free throws to produce the final scoring margin, as Reed's shot attempt to win the game on the Augsburg end at the buzzer did not connect, giving the Johnnies the upset win on the road.
Nester came off the bench to lead St. John's with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Kevin Buth (Fr., Edina, Minn.) had 12 points and three steals, and Bigalke had 11 points and eight rebounds. Bigalke became the 25th player in St. John's history to reach the 1,000-point mark in the game; he now has 1,006 career points.
Augsburg was paced by Reed, who had 18 points, three rebounds and two steals. Van Rossum scored 13 points, hitting three 3-pointers to finish his school-record total at 239, tying him with Jim Lovrein of Carleton (1994-98) for the No. 2 spot in career three-pointers among MIAC players (all games). He finished his career with 1,025 points, 15th-best in school history. Reed finished his career with 791 career points (27th-best in school history) and 249 career rebounds.
Matt Davis (Jr., Marshall, Minn.) had eight points and 10 rebounds for Augsburg, and
Nate Hoerr (Jr., Burnsville, Minn.) had seven points and nine rebounds.
All FG 3 Pt -FT- Rebounds
St. John's Univ. M- A M- A M- A Off Def Tot PF-D Pts A TO BLK STL Min
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*John Frie 0- 1 0- 0 0- 0 0 0 0 2-0 0 3 3 0 0 11
*Troy Bigalke 4- 16 1- 6 2- 2 7 1 8 3-0 11 1 2 0 0 33
*Sam Bugbee 0- 1 0- 0 1- 2 0 1 1 2-0 1 0 3 0 1 20
*Mike Nester 7- 13 1- 3 4- 5 6 5 11 0-0 19 1 1 1 1 37
*Luke Witt 3- 12 2- 6 0- 0 2 2 4 3-0 8 0 4 1 0 34
Dusty Lamker 0- 4 0- 3 0- 0 0 0 0 2-0 0 0 0 0 0 11
Kevin Buth 5- 10 1- 4 1- 2 1 2 3 2-0 12 1 1 0 3 29
Ryan Dusha 3- 6 1- 4 0- 0 3 2 5 3-0 7 1 1 0 2 23
Bryon Krause 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0 0 0 1-0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Team 5 5 10 0 0
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St. John's Univ. 22- 63 6-26 8-11 24 18 42 18-0 58 7 15 2 7 200
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-- First Half -- - Second Half - ---- Total ----
All FG 9- 32 28.1% 13- 31 41.9% 22- 63 34.9% Deadball
3 Pt FG 4- 14 28.6% 2- 12 16.7% 6- 26 23.1% Rebounds: 2
FT 6- 8 75.0% 2- 3 66.7% 8- 11 72.7%
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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*Jeoffrey Reed 6- 15 2- 8 4- 5 0 3 3 4-0 18 1 3 2 2 33
*Kevin Van Rossum 5- 10 3- 8 0- 0 0 1 1 1-0 13 0 1 0 0 35
*Josh Natzel 2- 4 0- 1 0- 2 0 2 2 3-0 4 3 2 0 0 23
*Jason Beckendorf 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 1 0 1 0-0 0 2 4 0 2 17
*Matt Davis 3- 5 0- 0 2- 2 5 5 10 3-0 8 2 2 1 2 31
Chris York 2- 3 2- 2 0- 0 0 0 0 2-0 6 2 1 0 0 9
Nate Hoerr 3- 8 0- 0 1- 4 7 2 9 0-0 7 2 3 1 0 28
Travis Hinze 0- 4 0- 1 0- 0 0 0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 15
Kyle Crubel 0- 2 0- 1 1- 2 0 3 3 1-0 1 0 0 0 0 9
Team 3 2 5 0 1
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Augsburg 21- 51 7-21 8-15 16 18 34 14-0 57 12 17 4 7 200
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-- First Half -- - Second Half - ---- Total ----
All FG 14- 29 48.3% 7- 22 31.8% 21- 51 41.2% Deadball
3 Pt FG 3- 11 27.3% 4- 10 40.0% 7- 21 33.3% Rebounds: 3
FT 4- 8 50.0% 4- 7 57.1% 8- 15 53.3%
Technical Fouls: None
Scoring by Period
1 2 Tot
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St. John's Univ. 28 30 58
Augsburg 35 22 57
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Attendance: 1,500
Officials: Carl Britt (R), Steve Makowske,
Pat Bauschelt, John Lieser (alt.)
