Men's Basketball 11/17/01 -- Augsburg 75, Wisconsin-Eau Claire 61 

BOXSCORE

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (11/17/01) -- Adam Kotewa (Jr., Mankato, Minn./Mankato West HS) earned tournament Most Valuable Player honors with a 21-point, eight-rebound performance, leading Augsburg College to a 75-61 win over the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in the championship game of the Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugold Tip-Off Tournament Saturday night at W.L. Zorn Arena.

Playing in his second game as an Auggie, transferring to the program after playing two years at Bethany Lutheran College (Mankato), Kotewa scored 49 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the two games, connecting on three 3-pointers Saturday night and eight in the tournament.

With the win, Augsburg moves to 2-0 overall, while Wisconsin-Eau Claire drops to 1-1. The loss marked just the second time that Wisconsin-Eau Claire has not won its season-opening tournament in the 24 years of the event. Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) won the tournament in 1998. The Blugolds started the season ranked 26th in the D3hoops.com Division III preseason national poll. In the third-place game on Saturday, Dakota Wesleyan (3-4) topped Northland College (Wis., 0-2) 74-52.

The Blugolds opened the game with a 29-19 scoring spurt in the first 17 minutes of play, but Augsburg responded with a spurt of its own, outscoring the Blugolds by a 29-3 margin to take a 48-32 lead at the 14:07 mark of the second half. Kotewa had 15 points in the Auggie scoring run, as Augsburg never trailed by less than 10 points the rest of the way.

Nick Peters (Jr., St. Peter, Minn./Nicollet HS) scored 14 points and had four rebounds for the Auggies, while Jay Howard (So., Burnsville, Minn.) scored 13 points and had four rebounds. Dwayne Starr (So., Richfield, Minn.), added eight points and seven assists.

Howard and Starr earned All-Tournament Team honors along with Kotewa, and Starr earned tournament Playmaker Award honors, leading all players with 15 assists in his two games.

Wisconsin-Eau Claire was paced by Jason Larson (Jr., Sugar Land, Texas), who had 19 points. Andy Witte (Jr., Monona Grove, Wis.) had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

As a team, Augsburg hit an impressive 50.9 percent from the field (27-of-53) and 83.3 percent from the free-throw line (15-of-18). On the weekend, Augsburg connected on a solid 48.6 percent from the field (54-of-111), nailing 11 three-pointers in the process.

Augsburg opens its home schedule next Saturday (11/24), hosting St. Scholastica (Minn.) as part of a men's and women's basketball doubleheader at Si Melby Hall. The women's game is at 1 p.m., with the men's game to follow at 3 p.m. Eau Claire competes over the Thanksgiving Weekend at the San Juan Shootout in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Blugolds will play the University of Sacred Heart (P.R.) on Friday (Nov. 23) at 7:30 p.m. (Central) and the University of Puerto-Rico-Bayamon on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (Central).

Augsburg at Wisconsin-Eau Claire Tip-Off Tournament
Tournament MVP -- Adam Kotewa, Augsburg
Rebound Award -- Andy Witte, Wisconsin-Eau Claire (15)
Playmaker Award (assists) -- Dwayne Starr, Augsburg (15)
All-Tournament Team -- Matt Skinkaruk, Northland; David Nour, Dakota Wesleyan; Austin Ledeboer, Dakota Wesleyan; Jay Howard, Augsburg; Dwayne Starr, Augsburg; Dan Archambault, Wisconsin-Eau Claire; Jason Larson, Wisconsin-Eau Claire.