Men's Basketball 12/30/02 -- Augustana (S.D.) 89, Augsburg 53 

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (12/30/02) -- Cody Levinson (Sr., Grand Island, Neb.) led all scorers with 26 points, hitting 7-of-9 three-pointers, as his Augustana College (S.D.) men's basketball team cruised to an 89-53 win over host Augsburg College (Minn.) in a nonconference game Monday night at Augsburg's Si Melby Hall.

Levinson had seven of Augustana's 12 three-pointers in the game, as the Division II Vikings improved to 9-2 overall, winning their sixth game in a row. Augsburg, a Division III program, drops to 3-6 overall, losing its fifth game in a row and sixth in its last seven starts.

The game was a close one early, but Augustana used a 19-6 run over a seven-minute span to take a 27-15 lead with 11:14 left in the first half. The host Auggies cut the lead under 10 points just once after that point, as the Vikings stretched the lead to as many as 24 points in the first half and as many as 38 points in the second half.

Augustana outrebounded Augsburg by a 38-32 margin and forced 19 Augsburg turnovers, scoring 19 points off turnovers compared to eight for Augsburg.

The Vikings shot 64.3 percent (18-of-28) from the field in the first half, building a 47-25 lead over the Auggies at the break. Augustana ended up shooting 60.3 percent (35-of-58) from the field, including 50 percent (12-of-24) from beyond the arc. Augsburg managed just 35 percent from the field (21-of-60), hitting just 18.2 percent (4-of-22) from three-point range.

Twelve Vikings saw game action and 11 scored. Michael Smellie (Sr., Riverdale, Ill.) hit three 3-pointers and had 17 points and five assists. Jon Wagner (Jr., Apple Valley, Minn.) had 13 points and five assists, and Justin Van Meeteren (Jr., Sheldon, Iowa) scored 11 points. Justin Vortherms (Jr., Sioux City, Iowa) led all players with 10 rebounds. Rod Henry (Jr., Zion, Ill.) had five assists and six rebounds.

Augsburg was led by Jay Howard * (Sr., Burnsville, Minn.), who had 17 points and six rebounds. Yarzue Slowon (So., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) had eight points, as did Marcus Gholson (Jr., Gary, Ind./William A. Wirt HS) and Casey Zilka (Jr., Eden Prairie, Minn.). Gholson had six rebounds and three assists.

Augsburg returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action on Saturday (1/4) at 3 p.m., hosting St. Thomas at Si Melby Hall. Augustana opens North Central Conference action on Saturday with a 4 p.m. game at Minnesota State-Mankato.