Men's Basketball 1/16/08 -- Augsburg 96, St. Mary's 71
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MINNEAPOLIS (1/16/08) -- David Olson (JR, Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes HS) scored a career-high 26 points, including four 3-pointers, leading Augsburg College to a 96-71 victory over visiting St. Mary's University in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball game on Wednesday night at Si Melby Hall.
Nate Alm (JR, Eden Prairie, Minn.) scored 18 points with nine rebounds and six steals, and Jon Cassens (SO, Prior Lake, Minn.) scored 16 points, including three 3-pointers, along with five assists and a steal for Augsburg (4-9 overall, 2-6 MIAC).
The 96 points scored by Augsburg is a season-high, and its most points since hitting the century mark in a 100-71 win over Crown College in the opening game of last season, Nov. 21, 2006.
St. Mary's (1-12 overall, 1-7 MIAC) was paced by Will Wright (FY, Chicago, Ill./Marist HS), who had 23 points with four assists. Dan Cormier (SR, Blaine, Minn.) scored 12 points with three rebounds and four blocked shots, and Josh Knights (SO, Plainfield, Wis./Tri-County HS) scored 11 points.
Mitch Dice (SR, Savage, Minn./Bloomington Lutheran HS) scored 10 points with four rebounds for the Auggies, Femi Solaja (SR, Cottage Grove, Minn./St. Paul Harding HS) had nine points, 12 rebounds and two blocked shots, and Justin Kozlowski * (SR, Wausau, Wis./Wausau Newman HS) recorded seven assists to go along with five points.
Augsburg pulled away midway through the first half, using a 14-3 run over a 3:43 span to take a 10-point lead, 21-11 with 9:51 left. St. Mary's cut the lead to 21-15, but Augsburg scored the next 11 points -- five by Olson -- to take a 17-point advantage at 32-15 with 5:31 left. The lead would not dip below double-digits the rest of the game, and the Auggies pulled away in the second half. Augsburg's 25-point margin of victory was its biggest lead of the game.
The Auggies connected on 53.1 percent (34-of-64) from the field, including 10 three-pointers, which matched a season-high. St. Mary's hit 51.9 percent (27-of-52) from the field, hitting nine 3-pointers. Augsburg converted 26 St. Mary's turnovers into 32 points. Meanwhile, the Cardinals scored 16 points off of 21 Auggie miscues. Augsburg also dominated inside, ourebounding St. Mary's by a 38-26 margin and converting 42 points in the paint, compared to just 28 for the Cardinals.
Lukas Holland (FY, La Crosse, Wis./Central HS) scored seven points with two assists for the Cardinals, and Nick Carr (JR, Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn HS) recorded six steals, two assists and two blocked shots.
Both teams return to MIAC play on Saturday (1/19) at 3 p.m., with Augsburg playing at Concordia- Moorhead and St. Mary's playing at Bethel.
