Men's Basketball 1/22/07 -- Gustavus 69, Augsburg 56

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (1/22/07) -- Gustavus Adolphus College rallied from a five-point halftime deficit, outscoring Augsburg College 42-24 in the second half in claiming a 69-56 victory in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball contest Monday night at Augsburg's Si Melby Hall.

Phil Sowden (Sr., Brooklyn Park, Minn./Park Center HS) scored a team-high 13 points to go with six rebounds, while Jay Stien (Sr., Arlington, Minn./Sibley East HS) had a double-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals for the Gusties, now 10-7 overall, 8-4 in MIAC play.

Jon Cassens (Fr., Prior Lake, Minn.) scored 14 points with four assists and four steals for Augsburg, now 8-9 overall, 5-7 in MIAC play. Chuck Scott * (Sr., Ely, Minn.) scored nine points with five rebounds, and Femi Solaja (Jr., Cottage Grove, Minn./St. Paul Harding HS) had seven points and nine rebounds.

Augsburg jumped out to an early advantage, leading by 11 points, 20-9, with 9:25 left in the first half. Scott and Cassens scored eight points apiece for the Auggies in the first half, while Solaja had seven points and six rebounds in the opening stanza. Gustavus trimmed the Auggie lead to three points on a 10-2 run, but Augsburg claimed a five-point lead at the break, 32-27.

The game was tied seen times and the lead changed hands eight times in the game, before Gustavus pulled away late. A 17-4 run gave the Gusties a 65-53 lead with 1:07 left, and the Gusties hit 12-of-12 from the free-throw line in the second half.

Five Gusties scored in double figures. Kane Sivesind (Jr., Madison, Wis./Memorial HS) had 12 points, Trevor Wittwer (Jr., Redwood Falls, Minn./Redwood Valley HS) scored 11 points and Jesse Van Sickle (Fr., Garden City, Minn./Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial HS) scored 10 points.

Darren Nelson (So., Richfield, Minn.) scored seven points for the Auggies, while Zach Krumwiede (Fr., Trimont, Minn./Martin County West HS) scored six points off the bench.

Augsburg hit 50 percent from the field (13-of-26) in the first half, but connected on just 36 percent (9-of-25) in the second half. Meanwhile, Gustavus hit 44 percent (11-of-25) in the first half, while hitting 56 percent (14-of-25) in the second half. Gustavus outrebounded Augsburg by a 29-27 margin and converted 21 points off of 21 Augsburg turnovers. Augsburg converted 17 points off of 15 Gustie turnovers.

Augsburg is idle on Wednesday (1/24) and returns to action on Saturday (1/27) at 5 p.m. with a home game against St. Olaf. Gustavus returns to action on Wednesday at 5:45 p.m., hosting Bethel.