Men's Basketball 12/8/03 -- Augsburg 79, Macalester 77 

BOXSCORE

ST. PAUL, Minn. (12/8/03) -- Marcus "Rico" Gholson (Sr., Gary, Ind./William A. Wirt HS) had his second career double-double in an Augsburg College uniform with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and teammate Lucas Olson-Patterson (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper HS) added 18 points and seven rebounds, and Augsburg head coach Brian Ammann earned his 200th career victory as his Auggies held on for a 79-77 road victory over Macalester College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball game Monday night at the Macalester Gymnasium.

Augsburg led by 11 points at halftime and held on as Macalester cut the lead to one point in the final six minutes. But the Scots could not get past the Auggies, as the Scots missed on four field-goal attempts to take the lead in the final 1:48. Augsburg never trailed in the game, and the contest was tied just once.

Ammann is the second Augsburg coach to reach the 200-win plateau; his career record is now 200-178. Ernie Anderson, who coached at Augsburg from 1948-1970 (23 seasons), has the most wins in school history, with a 277-267 record.

Augsburg is now 3-3 overall and 1-2 in MIAC play, while Macalester drops to 1-5 overall, 1-1 in MIAC play.

A 10-2 lead to start the game, with six points by Gholson and four by Olson-Patterson, put the Auggies in front in the first 2:46 of play. The Auggie lead never dipped below four points in the first half, and a 12-5 run to close the period gave Augsburg a 49-38 lead at halftime. Augsburg shot 60.6 percent (20-of-33) from the field in the first half, connecting on 5-of-10 three-pointers.

Augsburg continued to hold the advantage in the second half, as the Scots cut the lead to few as four points on two separate occasions, but the Auggies pushed the lead back to 10 in response each time. Despite shooting just 28 percent (7-of-25) from the field in the second half, Augsburg led 70-59 with 6:21 left before the Scots put on their final run of the game.

Macalester outscored Augsburg 13-3 in a 3:13 span to cut the lead to one point, 73-72, with 2:47 left. The Macalester bench was hit with a technical foul with 1:40 left, and Grant Hemmingsen (So., New Brighton, Minn./Mounds View HS) hit two free throws to give the Auggies a 77-74 lead. But the Scots tied the game at 77-77 with 46 seconds left, as Brendan Bosman (So., Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest HS) converted a three-point play. But Olson-Patterson was fouled twice and hit 2-of-4 at the free-throw line in the final 29 seconds to provide the margin of victory.

Hemmingsen had 13 points, five rebounds and three steals for the Auggies, going 9-of-10 from the free-throw line. As a team, Augsburg went 20-of-24 (83.3 percent) from the free-throw line in the game. Joshua Klem (Jr., Maplewood, Minn./North St. Paul HS) had eight points, while Larry Burgess (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./North HS) had seven points and Yarzue Slowon (Jr., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) had six points, three assists and two steals.

Ben Van Thorre (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn HS) led the Scots with 21 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and two steals. Van Thorre was one of four Scots to score in double figures -- Chris Assel (Sr., Eagan, Minn.) had 17 points, and Bosman and Erik Jackson (Jr., Evergreen, Colo.) had 11 points apiece, Bosman adding six rebounds and Jackson adding five assists and two steals.

Macalester hit 45 percent from the field (27-of-60) in the game. Augsburg outrebounded the Scots by a 37-24 margin.

Augsburg returns to MIAC play on Wednesday (12/10) at 7:30 p.m., hosting St. John's at Si Melby Hall. Macalester returns to action on Saturday (12/13) with a 3 p.m. game at Concordia-Moorhead.