Men's Basketball 12/3/01 -- Augsburg 69, Carleton 65 

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (12/3/01) -- Adam Kotewa (Jr., Mankato, Minn./Mankato West HS) scored 11 points and hit the eventual game-winning three-pointer with 56 seconds remaining Monday night, lifting Augsburg College to a 69-65 victory over Carleton College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball game at Augsburg's Si Melby Hall.

Kotewa hit three 3-pointers in the final 6:54, including one to give the Auggies a 64-63 lead with 1:57 left, and the other to give the Auggies a 68-65 lead with 56 seconds remaining. Carleton missed three 3-point shots in the final 32 seconds of play, and after Augsburg's Nick Peters (Jr., St. Peter, Minn./Nicollet HS) claimed a key defensive rebound, he hit one of two free throws to clinch the win for the Auggies.

Augsburg remained unbeaten at 5-0 with the victory, while Carleton dropped to 1-5 overall. It was the first MIAC game for both teams. The 5-0 start is the best start to a season for the Auggies since the 1997-98 season, when Augsburg won its first seven games to start the year, eventually finishing 22-4 with a conference championship and berth in the NCAA Divison III national tournament.

Five Auggies scored in double figures, led by Jay Howard (So., Burnsville, Minn.), who had 16 points and nine rebounds. Dwayne Starr (So., Richfield, Minn.) had 14 points, eight assists and four steals, and Kotewa, Peters and Michael Leach (Fr., Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View HS) had 11 points apiece. Peters added nine rebounds.

Carleton was paced by Tanner Schieck (So., Austin, Minn.), who scored 23 points and had eight rebounds. Matt Stangl (Sr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley HS) had 19 points -- hitting five 3-pointers -- and three steals, and Scott Christensen (Jr., Northfield, Minn.) had eight asssists and six rebounds.

Leading 32-28 at halftime, Augsburg used a 9-4 run to build its biggest lead of the game, nine points at 41-31 with 17:15 left. Later, after Augsburg led again by nine points, the Knights used an 8-0 run to cut the lead to one point, 50-49 with 8:38 left. Schieck had four points in the Knight run. Carleton took the lead, at 56-54, with 5:29 left on a three-pointer by Stangl, but Augsburg eventually tied the game at 61-61 on a layup by Peters with 2:37 left.

There were 12 ties and six lead changes in the game. Augsburg hit 43.5 percent (27-of-62) from the field, including hitting 50 percent (5-of-10) of its three-point shots. Carleton shot 37.1 percent (26-of-70) from the field, including 7-of-27 (25.9 percent) from beyond the arc. Augsburg outrebounded Carleton by a 45-39 margin.

The teams return to MIAC play on Wednesday night (12/5) at 7:30 p.m., Augsburg playing at Concordia-Moorhead and Carleton hosting Gustavus Adolphus.