Men's Basketball 1/9/08 -- St. Thomas 80, Augsburg 72
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MINNEAPOLIS (1/9/08) -- Joe Scott (SO, St. Anthony, Minn./DeLaSalle HS) led all players in scoring with 24 points with three assists and three steals, as his University of St. Thomas men's basketball team claimed an 80-72 win over host Augsburg College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest on Wednesday night at Si Melby Hall.
Ball control played a big difference in Wednesday's game, as St. Thomas (10-2 overall, 6-1 MIAC) took advantage of 21 Augsburg (3-8 overall, 1-5 MIAC) turnovers, collecting 14 steals and turning the Auggie miscues into 31 points. Meanwhile, St. Thomas had just seven turnovers in the game, which Augsburg was able to convert into only three points on five steals.
Augsburg was paced by Nate Alm (JR, Eden Prairie, Minn.), who had 18 points with eight rebounds. Mitch Dice (SR, Savage, Minn./Bloomington Lutheran HS) scored 14 points, while Jon Cassens (SO, Prior Lake, Minn.) had 12 points and six assists.
Femi Solaja (SR, Cottage Grove, Minn./St. Paul Harding HS), the MIAC's rebounding leader, recorded a double-digit rebounding total for the seventh time in his 11 games this season for the Auggies, with 15 rebounds to go along with eight points and three blocked shots.
Brett Tuma (SO, Excelsior, Minn./Minnetonka HS) scored 11 points off the bench for the Tommies. Thirteen Tommies saw game action on Wednesday, with 11 scoring. Lonnie Robinson (SR, Brooklyn Park, Minn./Osseo HS) scored nine points with four assists. Scott and B.J. Viau (JR, Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview HS) had three steals each.
St. Thomas overcame an early deficit and built a double-digit lead, eventually building the advantage to a game-high 15 late in the first half. Augsburg cut the advantage to 37-29 at halftime and to 41-36 at the 17:35 mark of the second half, but two quick three-pointers by Scott gave the Tommies an 11-point lead, 47-36 with 16:23 left. Augsburg cut the lead to single digits again, to six points midway through the second half and to seven points in the final three minutes, but could get no closer.
Augsburg outrebounded St. Thomas by a 38-21 margin. Carlius Hodges (FY, Minneapolis, Minn./North HS) collected eight points and two steals for the Auggies, while Justin Kozlowski * (SR, Wausau, Wis./Wausau Newman HS) and Darren Nelson * (JR, Richfield, Minn.) had six points apiece. Kozlowski also led all players with seven assists.
St. Thomas hit 54.2 percent (32-of-59) from the field, including 38.9 percent (7-of-18) from three-point range. Scott had four 3-pointers in the game. Augsburg hit 51.9 percent (28-of-54) from the field, including 47.1 percent (8-of-17) from three-point range. Dice had four 3-pointers and Cassens had three 3-pointers.
Both teams return to MIAC play on Saturday (1/12) at 3 p.m., as Augsburg plays at St. John's and St. Thomas plays at Gustavus.
