Men's Basketball 12/5/01 -- Concordia-Moorhead 79, Augsburg 72
BOXSCORE
MOORHEAD, Minn. (12/5/01) -- Concordia College-Moorhead came from behind and pulled away at the end to down visiting Augsburg College 79-72 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball game Wednesday night at Memorial Auditorium.
The Cobbers shook off a seven-point halftime deficit, hung around in the middle of the second half and then outscored the Auggies 13-6 in the final two minutes of the game to win their third consecutive game. It is the first loss of the season for Augsburg. Trent Hagen (Jr. Pelican Rapids, Minn.) scored a career-high 21 points to lead all scorers in the game. Kevin Gilchrest (So., Seattle, Wash./Chief Stealth HS) made several clutch plays down the stretch, and finished with 15 points.
Concordia (3-2 overall, 2-0 MIAC) was never able to threaten Augsburg (5-1 overall, 1-1 MIAC) in the first half. The Auggies went on a 9-0 run in the middle of the first half to extend their lead to 12 at 22-10. The Cobbers inched their way back into the game over the next seven minutes and cut the lead to 30-25 with 2:42 left in the period. Hagen kept Concordia within seven at the break when he drained one of his three 3-point field goals.
Concordia came of the break and proceeded to reel off five straight points and eventually take the lead at 39-38 with only 2:22 gone off the clock. The game remained within five points until the last two minutes of the game, when the Cobbers went on their decisive run. It all started with four straight points by Gilchrest. The teams then traded free throws and Augsburg cut the lead to three on a slashing drive from Dwayne Starr (So., Richfield, Minn.). The Auggies attempted to call a timeout but Concordia quickly played the ball inbounds, and Hagen was fouled by Starr as he tried to push the ball up the court. Starr was then whistled for a technical foul for arguing about the timeout call. Gilchrest made both technical free throw and then Hagen finished off his 21 points by canning his two shots. The three-point lead had been pushed to seven and with only 11 seconds on the clock the game was out of reach.
Adam Kotewa (Jr., Mankato, Minn./Mankato West HS) led the Auggies with 20 points, hitting three 3-pointers. Starr had 14 points and three steals, and
Jay Howard (So., Burnsville, Minn.) had 12 points.
The Cobbers shot 50 percent (29-for-57) from the field in the game, including 53 percent (16-for-30) in the second half. Augsburg was 24-for-51 (47 percent) from the field. The most telling statistic of the game was from the free-throw line, where Concordia was a perfect 16-for-16 while the Auggies were 13-for-19 (68.4 percent).
Concordia will go on an extended road trip over the weekend. They will play at St. Olaf on Saturday (12/8) at 3 p.m. and then at St. Mary's (12/9) on Sunday at 1 p.m. Augsburg hosts Hamline on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Si Melby Hall.
