Men's Basketball 12/15/04 -- Augsburg 103, North Central (Minn.) 56 

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (12/15/04) -- Devin Rose (Fr., Granton, Wis.) came off the bench to lead all scorers with 19 points, going 7-of-9 from the field and 3-of-3 from three-point range, leading five Augsburg College players in double figures as the Auggies claimed a 103-56 victory over North Central University (Minn.) in a nonconference men's basketball game Wednesday night at Augsburg's Si Melby Hall, its largest margin of victory in 20 seasons.

Lucas Olson-Patterson (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper HS) added 12 points and 10 rebounds for his 10th career double-double for the Auggies, now 4-4 overall. Augsburg has won four of its last five games and its last two in a row.

Matt Zachery (Sr., Loves Park, Ill.) and Rick Johnson (Jr., Grand Junction, Colo.) had double-doubles for North Central, an NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) school that falls to 7-7 overall. Zachery had 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Johnson had 10 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots.

Augsburg eclipsed the century mark in scoring for the first time since a 144-114 loss to Grinnell (Iowa) on Nov. 29, 2002, and claimed a victory scoring in triple figures for the first time since a 102-91 win over Nebraska Wesleyan in an NCAA Division III playoff game on March 4, 1999.

The 47-point margin of victory is the largest in head coach Brian Ammann's 17 seasons at Augsburg, the Auggies' first 40-point winning margin since the 1998-99 season and the largest margin of victory since a 52-point win by Augsburg over Concordia-St. Paul (99-47) on Nov. 22, 1985.

Augsburg, which never trailed in the game, jumped out to a 17-2 lead over the first six minutes of play, behind six points each from Jonathan Gholson (Jr., Gary, Ind./William A. Wirt HS) and Dan Graf (So., Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS).

North Central cut the lead to three points on a 14-2 run of its own over the next four minutes, paced by six points from Zachery and four points from Jeremy Watkins (Fr., Rockford, Ill.).

But Augsburg took control from that point on, using a 26-9 run to take a 20-point lead, 45-25, with 4:32 left in the half. Augsburg led by 21 points, 53-32, at halftime, never letting the lead fall below 17 points in the second half. The 47-point margin of victory was Augsburg's largest lead of the game.

Augsburg hit 47.9 percent (35-of-73) from the field, including hitting 13-of-26 (50.0 percent) from beyond the three-point arc. Meanwhile, North Central managed just 30.7 percent (23-of-75) shooting from the field, including just 7-of-40 (17.5 percent) from three-point range. Augsburg outrebounded North Central by a 59-34 margin.

Twelve of the 14 Auggies who saw playing time in the game scored. Gholson scored 12 points with six rebounds, Graf had 10 points, and Charlie Scott (So., Ely, Minn.) scored in double figures for the first time in his career, with 12 points and five rebounds, going 4-for-4 from three-point range.

Adam Brister (Fr., New Prague, Minn.) had nine points and four rebounds, and Kevin Keto (So., Forest Lake, Minn.) and Justin Kozlowski (Fr., Wausau, Wis./Wausau Newman HS) had seven points each. Aaron Benesh (Jr., Oconto, Wis.) scored six points and pulled down seven rebounds.

Carl Berry (Sr., Manassas, Va.) had 12 points and five rebounds for North Central, while Brandon Liebe (Sr., Waupaca, Wis.) had nine points.

The Auggies return to action with a nonconference doubleheader on Thursday, Dec. 30, hosting Northwestern-Roseville at Si Melby Hall. The women's game will be at 5:30 p.m., with the men's game following at 7:30 p.m. North Central is next in action on Dec. 29-30, competing in the Dordt (Iowa) Classic on Dec. 29-30.