Men's Basketball 11/23/08 -- Concordia-St. Paul 91, Augsburg 75
ST. PAUL, Minn. (11/23/08) -- The Augsburg College men's basketball team (2-1 overall) was handed their first loss of the season by Division II Concordia-St. Paul (2-3 overall) 91-75 on Sunday afternoon in nonconference action at the CSP Gangelhoff Center.
Augsburg was led by Nate Alm (SR, Eden Prairie, Minn.), who posted 17 points, eight rebounds, two steals and an assist. Also playing well for the Auggies were newcomers Cory Polta (FY, Spring Lake Park, Minn.) and Andy Grzesiak-Grimm (FY, Wyoming, Minn./St. Francis HS). Polta contributed 15 points and 5 boards, while shooting 4-for-4 from the field and 7-for-12 from the free throw line. Grzesiak-Grimm had an identical 4-for-4 performance from the field as well as a 5-for-6 night from the charity stripe. Leading Augsburg in the assist category was Jon Cassens (JR, Prior Lake, Minn.) and Ben Flavin (FY, Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North HS), with six apiece.
Concordia-St. Paul was led by Sammy Ricks and Matt Cadwell. Ricks scored 20 points and collected eight rebounds, while Cadwell had 18 points, three rebound and three assists.
The Auggies came out strong, taking a 10-2 lead over the first four minutes of action. Augsburg built its early lead off a pair of three pointers by Cassens and David Olson (SR, Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes HS) as well as quick layup and jumper by Polta. The Golden Bears would come back as the two teams battled back and forth for most of the first half. Concordia-St. Paul took a narrow 38-32 lead into the locker room at half time.
Despite shooting 50 percent (13-of-26) from the field in the second half, Augsburg was outshot by the Golden Bears, who shot 61.3 percent (19-of-31). The Auggies were able to cut the Concordia lead to five off a jumper by Cassens at the 16:28 mark but were not able to get any closer.
For the game, the Auggies shot 41.8 percent (23-of-55) from the field and 26.1 percent (6-of-23) from the three point line. In comparison, the Golden Bears shot 55.0 percent (33-60) from the field and 44.4 percent (8-of-18) from three point range.
Concordia St. Paul grabbed a narrow victory in the battle on the boards, edging the Auggies 33-32. Both team had issues with turnovers in the contest, as Augsburg committed 21, and Concordia-St. Paul committed 16. The difference came in points off turnovers, where the Golden Bears were able to outscore the Auggies 25-4. Augsburg was able to outscore the Golden Bears in second chance points, where it held a 14-6 advantage.
Augsburg will return to action on Friday (11/28) at 7 p.m. when it travels to Winona, Minn., to take on defending Division II national champion Winona State University..
