Men's Basketball 1/18/06 -- Macalester 70, Augsburg 67

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (1/18/06) -- Brendan Bosman (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest HS) scored 18 points -- 12 in the second half -- and pulled down eight rebounds, as his Macalester College men's basketball team raellied from an eight-point deficit in the final 7:36 to claim a 70-67 victory over host Augsburg College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest Wednesday night at Si Melby Hall.

Jesse Hollander (Jr., Kathmandu, Nepal/Bend (Ore.) Mountain View HS) scored nine of his 12 points in the game during a key 13-0 Macalester run over a 5:01 span, rallying the Scots from a 61-53 deficit to a 66-61 advantage with 2:35 left, taking a lead they would not surrender the rest of the way.

Augsburg then scored six of the next eight points -- four from Dan Graf (Jr., Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS) to trim the lead to 68-67 with 46 seconds left, but the Auggies missed a free throw on a potential three-point play and missed two field goals in the final 15 seconds, including an inside shot blocked by Bosman with six seconds left.

Macalester is now 4-11 overall, 3-7 in MIAC play, breaking a four-game losing streak. Augsburg dropped its fifth straight game and eighth in its last nine starts to fall to 3-12 overall, 2-8 in MIAC play. Augsburg also remained winless on its home court this season, dropping to 0-7 at Si Melby Hall.

Macalester jumped out to a 7-1 lead as Augsburg struggled at the start, going 2-of-16 from the field to start the game before eventually tying the game at 7-7 with 11:49 left in the first half. Augsburg then began to hit from the outside, going 6-of-12 from three-point range in the first half to eventually take an 11-point lead, 33-22 with 3:28 left in the opening stanza. Augsburg led 37-33 at halftime, before Macalester made its end-of-game surge.

In addition to Bosman's 18 points, Tom Conboy (So., Chanhassen, Minn./Minnetonka HS) had 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists for the Scots. Terrence Robinson-Wilson (Sr., Chicago, Ill./Wayland Academy (Wis.) HS) had 13 points and five rebounds, and Hollander added 12 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

Graf paced Augsburg with 26 points, his second 20-point-plus performance of the season and seventh double-figure-scoring effort in his last eight games. He also had nine rebounds, three assists and two steals. Darren Nelson (So., Richfield, Minn.) came off the bench to score 14 points with three rebounds.

Charlie Scott (Jr., Ely, Minn.) hit three 3-pointers in the first half and scored nine points. Justin Koslowski (So., Wausau, Wis./Wausau Newman HS) had eight points and two steals. Kevin Keto (Jr., Forest Lake, Minn.) had four assists and five steals.

Augsburg hit 43.8 percent (14-of-32) from the field in the first half, but hit just 30.0 percent (9-of-30) in the second half. Meanwhile, Macalester was limited to 37.9 percent (11-of-29) from the field in the first half, but connected on 54.2 percent (13-of-24) from the field in the second half. Macalester also outrebounded Augsburg by a 46-28 margin. Augsburg committed just four turnovers in the game, compared to 16 for Macalester.

Both teams return to MIAC play on Saturday (1/21) at 3:15 p.m., as Augsburg plays at St. Olaf and Macalester plays at Bethel.