Men's Basketball 1/25/03 -- Augsburg 77, Carleton 62 

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (1/25/03) -- Jay Howard * (Sr., Burnsville, Minn.) scored a season-high 27 points, going 11-for-15 from the field and 4-of-5 from three-point range, as Augsburg College scored a 77-62 upset victory over Carleton College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest Saturday afternoon at Augsburg's Si Melby Hall.

Howard scored 19 points in the second half, as the Auggies rallied from a 35-31 halftime deficit to pull away from the Knights. Augsburg is now 7-10 overall and 4-8 in MIAC play, having won its fourth game in its last six. Carleton drops to 11-6 overall and 8-4 in MIAC play.

Augsburg outscored Carleton 27-9 over the first 10 minutes of the second half to take a commanding 58-46 lead with 9:40 remaining. Howard had 14 points in the 27-9 run to lead the Auggies. Augsburg stretched its lead to as much as 18 points, as a 12-2 run over a three-minute stretch late in the game sealed the outcome.

In addition to Howard's play, the other key to Augsburg's second-half run was its sharp shooting. The Auggies hit 70.8 percent from the field (17-of-24) in the second half, a season-high 56.6 percent (30-of-53) from the field in the game.

Meanwhile, after going 7-of-10 from three-point range in the first half, Carleton went cold, hitting just 3-of-11 from beyond the arc in the second half and just 22-of-54 (40.7 percent) from the field in the game.

Augsburg outrebounded Carleton by a 34-28 margin, dominating the low post for the first time this season. Augsburg had 32 points in the paint, compared to 18 for Carleton.

The Auggies also received contributions from unlikely sources, particularly freshmen Alex Maas (Fr., Minong, Wis./Northwood HS) and Jonathan Gholson (Fr., Gary, Ind./William A. Wirt HS). The duo had career efforts for the Auggies, with 10 and nine points, respectively. Maas had six rebounds and Gholson had five boards.

Rob Collins (Jr., Richfield, Minn.) had a season-high 14 points and seven rebounds, and Yarzue Slowon (So., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) had nine points, four rebounds and eight assists, one off his season high.

Carleton was paced by Dan Forkrud (Fr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn.), who had 19 points and four rebounds. Scott Christensen (Sr., Northfield, Minn.) had 16 points and four rebounds, while Anthony Baquero (So., Rosemount, Minn.) had 10 points.

Tanner Schieck (Jr., Austin, Minn.) had nine pints, while Kyle Beste (So., St. Louis Park, Minn.) had four points, six assists and a team-high eight rebounds.

Augsburg returns to MIAC action on Wednesday nigh (1/29) with a 7:30 p.m. game at Macalester, and returns to Si Melby Hall next Saturday (2/1) with a 3 p.m. game against St. John's. Carleton has Wednesday off before returning to action next Saturday at 3 p.m., hosting Northfield rival St. Olaf.