Men's Basketball 1/7/04 -- Hamline 65, Augsburg 63
BOXSCORE
MINNEAPOLIS (1/7/04) -- Jerome Williams (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper HS) hit a leaning jump shot at the final buzzer, giving Hamline University a 65-63 victory over Augsburg College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball game Wednesday night at Si Melby Hall.
Williams' jumper capped a wild final few minutes of action in a game that featured 16 lead changes and eight ties. Hamline improved to 6-5 overall and 3-3 in MIAC play with the win, while Augsburg lost its fourth game in a row to fall to 5-7 overall, 2-5 in MIAC play.
Hamline rallied from a five-point deficit in the final six minutes of play to claim the victory. Trailing 59-56 with 4:41 left, Hamline converted three free throws on a single possesion, as Augsburg's Larry Burgess (Sr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) was whistled for a team-control intentional foul on a hard push through a screen. Ryan Montgomery (So., Plainview, Minn.) made one free throw, and on Hamline's subsequent second-chance with the ball, Williams made two free throws to tie the game at 59-59 with 4:17 left.
Augsburg's
Lucas Olson-Patterson (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper HS) hit a jumper with 3:11 left to give the Auggies a 61-59 lead, but Hamline answered on a shot by Brandon Aukes (Jr., Kiester, Minn./United South Central HS) with 2:05 left.
Augsburg's
Marcus "Rico" Gholson (Sr., Gary, Ind./William A. Wirt HS) converted 1-of-2 free throws to give the Auggies a 62-61 lead on its next possession with 1:38 left, but Hamline took the lead back with an Aukes field goal with 1:21 remaining. Aukes then fouled Olson-Patterson, who converted 1-of-2 at the line, but claimed his own rebound with a held ball on the second free-throw miss with 55 seconds left. Gholson then missed two close field-goal attempts, with Hamline's Paul Muenchow (Jr., St. Anthony, Minn.) getting a key block and defensive rebound with 35 seconds left.
After a Hamline time out with 33 seconds left, the Pipers seemed to have a chance at victory slip away, as Williams had the ball stolen by Augsburg's
Yarzue Slowon (Jr., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS). In a scramble downcourt, the ball went out of bounds off of Slowon, giving the Pipers another chance with 21 seconds remaining.
As Williams brought the ball upcourt, he was fouled by Slowon, who fouled out. But Hamline was not in the bonus, so the Pipers got the ball out of bounds with 16 seconds left. Williams nearly had the ball picked off again, but he maintained possession in the final seconds, leaned forward from about 12 feet out and hit the game-winning leaner at the buzzer.
Josh Hanson (Sr., St. Cloud, Minn./Apollo HS) led all scorers with 23 points, three assists and four rebounds for the Pipers, who had four scorers in double figures. Williams had 13 points, Montgomery had 11 points and four assists, and Aukes had 10 points, three assists and four rebounds.
Augsburg was paced by Olson-Patterson, who had 19 points and seven rebounds. After missing Monday's loss to Bethel with a sprained ankle, Olson-Patterson scored in double figures for the ninth time in his 11 Augsburg games.
Casey Zilka (Sr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) had 13 points and five rebounds for the Auggies, while Gholson had seven points, nine rebounds and two steals.
Kevin Keto (Fr., Forest Lake, Minn.) had seven points and five assists, and Slowon had five points and five assists.
The game was a back-and-forth affair throughout, as Hamline held a 36-34 lead at halftime An 11-2 run over the first three minutes of the second half gave Augsburg its biggest lead, 45-38 with 17:12 remaining, and Augsburg again held a seven-point lead, 50-43, with 13:11 to play. Hamline trailed 57-52 with 7:29 left, outscoring Augsburg 13-6 down the stretch.
Both teams return to MIAC play on Saturday (1/10) at 3 p.m. in Northfield, Minn., with Augsburg playing at St. Olaf and Hamline playing at Carleton.
