Men's Basketball 12/30/04 -- Augsburg 80, Northwestern-Roseville 77

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (12/30/04) -- Lucas Olson-Patterson (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper HS) scored a career-high 32 points with nine rebounds and two steals, leading Augsburg College to an 80-77 triumph over Northwestern-Roseville in a nonconference men's basketball game Thursday night at Augsburg's Si Melby Hall.

After starting the season at 0-3, Augsburg is now 5-4 overall, winning their fifth game in their last six contests.

In dropping to 6-5 on the season, Northwestern-Roseville was paced by Jeff VerSteeg (Sr., Willmar, Minn./Central Minnesota Christian HS), who scored 27 points and went over the 1,000-point mark in his career. VerSteeg now has 1,019 career points. Ted Taatjes (Sr., Prinsburg, Minn./Central Minnesota Christian HS) fell one assist short of a triple-double for the Eagles, scoring 12 points with 11 rebounds and nine assists.

Olson-Patterson scored 19 points in the first half, as the Auggies rallied from an early 10-point deficit to take a 10-point lead at halftime, 44-34. Augsburg trailed 24-14 with 10:18 remaining in the first half, but used a 25-5 run over the next seven minutes to take a 39-29 lead.

Augsburg jumped out of the gate quickly in the second half to extend the lead to 19 points, 55-36 with 15:41 remaining. But a 14-0 run by Northwestern cut the lead to five points, 55-50, with 11:25 left. Augsburg built the lead to 10 points again, but Northwestern took advantage of poor Augsburg free-throw shooting late to trim the lead to two points, 77-75 with 27 seconds left.

Augsburg managed just 13-of-25 (52.0 percent) shooting from the charity stripe, including hitting just 6-of-15 in the second half. In the final 1:02 of play, Augsburg hit just 4-of-11 from the line, keeping the Eagles in the contest. However, Augsburg took advantage of 18 Northwestern turnovers, converting 19 points off of 12 steals.

Olson-Patterson went 12-of-20 from the field for the Auggies, conntecting on four 3-pointers. Justin Kozlowski (Fr., Wausau, Wis./Wausau Newman HS) scored 14 points, hitting three 3-pointers and going 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. Dan Graf (So., Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS) scored 12 points, adding six rebounds and three steals. Devin Rose (Fr., Granton, Wis.) added eight points and two steals.

Daniel Hanson (Fr., Plymouth, Minn./Maranatha HS) had 15 points and nine rebounds off the bench for Northwestern, while Joseph Sir (Jr., Cresco, Iowa/Crestwood HS) had 13 points.

Augsburg returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action on Monday (1/3), hosting St. Thomas as part of a men's/women's doubleheader at Si Melby Hall. The women's game is at 5:30 p.m., with the men's game following at 7:30 p.m. Northwestern opens Upper Midwest Athletic Conference on Friday, Jan. 7 at 7:30 p.m., hosting Martin Luther.