Men's Basketball 12/9/06 -- Augsburg 80, Carleton 69

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (12/9/06) -- Zach Krumwiede (Fr., Trimont, Minn./Martin County West HS) scored 18 points with five rebounds and four assists, one of five Augsburg College players to score in double figures, as the Auggies pulled away in the second half to claim an 80-69 victory over visiting Carleton College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball game on Saturday afternoon at Si Melby Hall.

The Auggies outrebounded the Knights by a 37-19 margin and had one of their strongest shooting performances of the season -- hitting 51.1 percent (23-of-45) from the field, 52.6 percent (10-of-19) from three-point range and 85.7 percent (24-of-28) from the free-throw line -- to improve to 5-2 overall, 2-1 in MIAC play. With the win, Augsburg has already eclipsed its total number of wins from last season (4-21).

"This is a great win for our program," said Augsburg head coach Aaron Griess. "To get in a game like this one, where the score was back and forth the whole way, and execute down the stretch, shows a lot of character on our players' part. The way we made free throws and executed in the final three minutes was great."

Jon Cassens (Fr., Prior Lake, Minn.) had 15 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Femi Solaja (Jr., Cottage Grove, Minn./St. Paul Harding HS) had 13 points and six rebounds for the Auggies. Justin Kozlowski (Jr., Wausau, Wis./Wausau Newman HS) hit three 3-pointers and scored 11 points with four rebounds and three assists, and Darren Nelson (So., Richfield, Minn.) scored 10 points.

"Our guys did a great job of executing our game plan today. Carleton is a talented offensive team and we had to make some adjustments to our usual defensive philosophy to try to take them out of their rhythm," Griess said.

Paced by 20 points from Zach Johnson (So., Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview HS), Carleton dropped to 1-5 overall, 1-2 in MIAC play. Tommy Drake (Jr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) had 15 points and Jay Melson (So., Cottage Grove, Minn./Park HS) had 10 points and a team-high four rebounds.

The game was a tight one throughout, with 13 lead changes and 13 ties.

Neither team led by more than six points until the final six minutes of play. Carleton took its final lead of the game, 56-55, with 10:43 left. After that, Augsburg used a 12-4 run to take a 67-60 lead with 6:32 remaining. The Auggies connected on 11-of-12 free throws in the final 2:32 of play to pull away. Augsburg's 11-point final margin of victory was its biggest lead of the game. Augsburg's bench was strong for the second straight game, scoring 31 of the team's 80 points.

Carleton hit 47.5 percent (28-of-59) from the field in the game, but connected on just 20 percent (4-of-20) from three-point range. Carleton hit 75 percent (9-of-12) from the free-throw line.

Augsburg is now idle for the holiday break until Saturday, Dec. 30, when it hosts Northwestern-Roseville as part of a doubleheader at 3 p.m. at Si Melby Hall. Carleton returns to MIAC play on Monday (12/11) at 5:45 p.m. with a game at Concordia-Moorhead.

"We're focused on getting better every outing. We have a lot of room for improvement in some areas, but I'm confident we'll keep improving," Griess said.