Men's Basketball 2/15/03 -- Augsburg 62, St. Mary's 59 

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (2/15/03) -- Rob Collins (Jr., Richfield, Minn.) scored his first collegiate double-double, with 12 points and 15 rebounds, leading Augsburg College to 62-59 win over St. Mary's University in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest Saturday afternoon at Augsburg's Si Melby Hall.

With the win, and losses Saturday by Hamline and Macalester, Augsburg (11-13 overall, 8-11) moves into seventh place in the race for the final playoff spot in the six-team MIAC postseason playoffs. Both St. John's, which lost on Saturday, and St. Olaf, which beat Macalester, have 9-9 MIAC records and have two games remaining. Augsburg has one league game remaining.

There are six teams fighting for the final two postseason playoff spots as the regular season enters its final week. On Wednesday (2/19), Augsburg hosts Concordia-Moorhead (7-12 MIAC), St. John's (9-9) plays at Carleton (12-6), St. Olaf (9-9) hosts St. Thomas (15-3) and Macalester (7-11) hosts Hamline (7-11). Next Saturday (2/22), St. Olaf plays at Hamline and Macalester plays at St. John's, while Augsburg and Concordia have the final Saturday of the regular season off.

Augsburg won Saturday's contest over St. Mary's despite a very poor shooting performance -- hitting just 32.9 percent (23-of-70) from the field, including a season-low 8.7 percent (2-of-23) from three-point range. St. Mary's outrebounded Augsburg by a 56-46 margin, but did not have a good shooting day of its own, hitting just 29.9 percent (20-of-67) from the field, 30.4 percent (7-of-23) from beyond the arc.

St. Mary's finished its season on Saturday with a 2-23 overall record, 2-18 in the MIAC.

Trailing 42-40 with 10:18 left, Augsburg went on an 11-2 run to take its biggest lead of the game, a 51-43 advantage with 5:45 left. However, St. Mary's scored the next nine points of the game to take a 52-51 lead with 2:53 left, with Lance Larson (Sr., Lakeville, Minn.) scoring four points in the run.

But Augsburg secured the game with a 10-2 run over a 2:31 span late in the game, as Casey Zilka (Jr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) scored consecutive baskets and Jonathan Gholson (Fr., Gary, Ind./William A. Wirt HS) had a basket and two free throws in the final minute. St. Mary's cut the lead to two points, 61-59 with 11 seconds left, on a five-point swing in a seven-second span. But the Auggies hung on, hitting a free throw to clinch the three-point win.

Collins' 15 rebounds was a career high. He also had three assists and two steals. Four Auggies scored in double figures, as Gholson had a career-high 10 points. Yarzue Slowon (So., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) led the Auggies with 15 points, seven assists and three steals, and Jay Howard * (Sr., Burnsville, Minn.) had 14 points, two blocks and four steals. Zilka had six points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks.

St. Mary's was paced by Nick Michaels (Sr., Dyer, Ind./Mt. Carmel HS), who had 22 points and eight rebounds. Jim Wangler (Fr., Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South HS) had 14 points, nine rebounds and four assists, and Dan Kloak (Fr., Elmwood Park, Ill./Fenwick HS) had seven points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Larson had seven points, seven rebounds and six assists.

Augsburg's game on Wednesday (2/19), its last of the regular season, is part of a women's and men's basketball doubleheader against Concordia-Moorhead. The women's game starts at 5:30 p.m., with the mens' game following at 7:30 p.m.