Men's Basketball 12/6/04 -- Bethel 74, Augsburg 55 

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (12/6/04) -- Tim Gilbert (Sr., Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) led all scorers with 23 points and eight rebounds, as his Bethel University men's basketball team pulled away in the first half and claimed a 74-55 win over host Augsburg College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest Monday night at Si Melby Hall.

Andy Cook (So., Columbia Heights, Minn.) came off the bench to score 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting for the Royals, now 6-0 overall and 2-0 in MIAC play.

Dan Graf (So., Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS) had a career-high 18 points, six rebounds and three steals for Augsburg, now 2-4 overall and 2-1 in MIAC play.

A 12-0 run over a three-minute, 31-second span midway through the first half gave Bethel a 26-14 advantage, a lead the Royals would not surrender the rest of the way. After the decisive run, Bethel extended the lead to 17 points at halftime. Charles Meadowcroft (So., Columbia Heights, Minn.) had all eight of his points and eight of his nine rebounds in the first half for the Royals, including four points in the decisive 12-0 run.

The Bethel lead never sunk below double-digits in the second half, as Augsburg could only manage one extended scoring run, a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 10 points, 61-51, with 6:25 remaining. But the run was swiftly answered by a 10-2 scoring run over the next 3:30 by the Royals -- with all the Royals points coming from Gilbert.

Gilbert had 16 points and seven rebounds in the second half, and also ended up with four assists, three assists and two blocks in the game. Travis Jones (Sr., Willmar, Minn.) added 11 points for the Royals, while Meadowcroft and Tyson Bjorklund (Jr., Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View HS) had eight points apiece.

Graf went 4-for-5 from three-point range for the Auggies for his career-high 18 points. Lucas Olson-Patterson (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper HS) had 15 points, six rebounds and two steals for the Auggies.

No other Auggie player had more than five points in the game, as the hosts managed just 22-of-64 shooting from the field (34.4 percent), including 4-of-22 (18.2 percent) from three-point range. Meanwhile, Bethel connected on 46.3 percent (31-of-67) from the field, and outrebounded Augsburg by a 43-39 margin. Bethel also forced 20 Augsburg turnovers.

Both teams return to MIAC play on Wednesday (12/8) at 7:30 p.m., with Augsburg playing at Carleton and Bethel playing at St. John's.