Men's Basketball 2/18/04 -- Augsburg 68, Concordia-Moorhead 67

BOXSCORE

MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/18/04) -- Marcus "Rico" Gholson (Sr., Gary, Ind./William A. Wirt HS) scored 13 points to lead Augsburg College, while Yarzue Slowon (Sr., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) had 10 points, eight assists and three steals, as the Auggies held off a late Concordia College-Moorhead comeback in a 68-67 victory in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball game on Wednesday night at Concordia's Memorial Auditorium.

Concordia rallied from an 18-point second half deficit to take a 62-61 lead with 4:07 remaining in the game, but Augsburg rallied back to take the victory in its last game of the season.

Augsburg closes its season winning three of its final four games to finish 9-16 overall, 6-14 in MIAC play. Concordia, bound for the six-team MIAC postseason playoffs, finishes its regular 17-7 overall, 14-6 in MIAC play. Concordia, the No. 3 seed in the postseason playoffs, will host No. 6 St. Thomas on Tuesday (2/24) at 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Auditorium.

Leading 38-31 at halftime, Augsburg used a 14-3 run to build its biggest lead of the game, 52-34 with 15:33 remaining. Casey Zilka (Sr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) had five points in the Auggie run.

But Concordia outscored the Auggies 28-9 over the next 12 minutes to take its 62-61 advantage. The teams exchanged leads on the next four possessions, and Jonathan Gholson's (So., Gary, Ind./William A. Wirt HS) jumper tied the game at 65-65 with 2:07 left.

After a Concordia turnover, Zac Rosen (Jr., Plymouth, Minn./West Lutheran HS) hit a basket to give Augsburg a 67-65 lead with 47 seconds left. But after a Concordia miss, Marcus Gholson snared the rebound, but was called for an offensive foul with 29 seconds left. He was also whistled with a technical foul, and Concordia's Joe Bueckers hit both free throws to tie the game at 67-67.

But with the ball and a chance to win, the Cobbers turned the ball over with eight seconds left, as Jonathan Gholson claimed a steal. He was fouled and hit 1-of-2 at the free throw line with six seconds left, and a last-second three-point chance for the Cobbers missed, giving the Auggies the upset victory.

Lucas Olson-Patterson (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper HS) scored 12 points, with six rebounds and three steals for the Auggies. Olson-Patterson scored in double figures in 20 of his 23 Auggie games this season. Jonathan Gholson also had 12 points for the Auggies, with Zilka adding nine points and Rosen adding seven.

Concordia was paced by Keith Eckhoff, who came off the bench to score 19 points with six rebounds. Josh Downey had 15 points and six rebounds, with Soren Nelson adding 13 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Bueckers had seven points, five assists and three steals.