Men's Basketball 1/4/03 -- St. Thomas 75, Augsburg 57 

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (1/4/03) -- Steve Fritz earned his 400th career victory as a head coach, as his University of St. Thomas men's basketball team claimed a 75-57 win over Augsburg College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game Saturday afternoon at Augsburg's Si Melby Hall.

Brendan Finn (Sr., Deephaven, Minn./Minnetonka HS) hit four 3-pointers and led St. Thomas with 15 points, as the Tommies improved to 7-2 overall and 3-1 in MIAC play, winning their fifth straight game. St. Thomas is ranked 18th in the latest D3hoops.com NCAA Division III national poll.

Augsburg dropped its sixth game in a row and seventh in its last eight to fall to 3-7 overall and 0-5 in MIAC play.

Fritz, in his 23rd season at St. Thomas, is now 400-194 on his career, becoming the 22nd active Division III head coach to reach the 400-win plateau. The only active MIAC coach with more wins is St. John's Jim Smith, who is 610-402 in 39 seasons. Fritz is second all-time among St. Thomas coaches; Tom Feely went 417-269 as the Tommies' mentor from 1954-80.

For a while on Saturday, Augsburg was aiming to keep Fritz from reaching the mark. With four ties and six lead changes in the first half, the Tommies managed just a 31-28 lead at the break. There were 11 lead changes and seven ties in the game.

But the Tommies went on strong run to take the lead for good. After Augsburg's last lead at 40-37 with 15:35 left in the second half, the Tommies went on a 17-4 run, taking a 54-44 lead with 6:59 remaining. Augsburg cut the lead to four points after that, but St. Thomas outscored Augsburg 21-7 down the stretch, including going 10-for-12 from the free-throw line in the final 6:10.

Kevin Fitzgerald (Sr., Centerville, Minn./St. Thomas Academy HS) had a double-double, with 12 points and 12 rebounds, one of four Tommies to score in double figures. Sean Sweeney (Fr., St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall HS) had 14 points and Nick Schader (Jr., Shoreview, Minn./Totino-Grace HS) had 12 points. Nic Marx (Sr., Maple Grove, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret HS) had nine points and six rebounds.

St. Thomas outrebounded Augsburg 37-20 in the contest, collecting 11 offensive rebounds. The Tommies shot 51.9 percent (27-of-52) from the field, compared to 42 percent (21-of-50) for the Auggies.

Augsburg was led by Marcus Gholson (Jr., Gary, Ind./William A. Wirt HS), who had a career-high 24 points, going 9-of-11 from the field. Yarzue Slowon (So., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) had 16 points and season highs of seven assists and five steals. Jay Howard * (Sr., Burnsville, Minn.) had six points and two blocked shots.

Both teams return to MIAC play on Monday (1/6) at 7:30 p.m., Augsburg hosting Bethel and St. Thomas hosting Concordia-Moorhead.