Men's Basketball 2/16/08 -- Augsburg 85, Concordia-Moorhead 72
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MINNEAPOLIS (2/16/08) -- Femi Solaja (SR, Cottage Grove, Minn./St. Paul Harding HS) scored 18 points with four rebounds, and teammate Justin Kozlowski * (SR, Wausau, Wis./Wausau Newman HS) had a near-perfect shooting night with 17 points, four assists and four steals, keeping Augsburg College alive in the hunt for a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball playoff berth with an 85-72 win over visiting Concordia College-Moorhead on Saturday afternoon at Si Melby Hall.
With two games remaining in the regular season, Augsburg (11-12 overall, 9-9 MIAC) is tied with Bethel (13-10 overall, 9-9 MIAC) for seventh place, both teams a game behind Concordia (11-12 overall, 10-8 MIAC) and St. Olaf (12-12 overall, 10-9 MIAC) in the hunt for the six-team MIAC postseason playoffs.
St. Thomas (20-3 overall, 16-2 MIAC) and Gustavus (17-6 overall, 13-5 MIAC) have already clinched playoff berths, while Carleton (16-7 overall, 11-7 MIAC) and St. John's (14-10 overall, 11-8 MIAC) sit in third and fourth place, respectively.
After starting the season 0-6, Augsburg has won 11 of its last 17 games, including six of its last seven, to remain in the postseason playoff chase.
Augsburg led Saturday's game with Concordia from start-to-finish, leading 40-29 at halftime and leading by as many as 16 points late in the second half. The Cobbers had cut the advantage to six points midway through the second half, but Augsburg pulled away to lead by double-digits over the final 5:16 of play.
Kozlowski hit 3-of-5 from the field (2-of-3 from three-point range) and a perfect 9-of-9 from the free-throw line to finish with his 17-point night for the Auggies. Meanwhile, Solaja, the MIAC's leader in field-goal percentage (.630 entering Saturday's game), connected on 7-of-12 from the field for his 18-point day.
Jon Cassens (SO, Prior Lake, Minn.) scored 15 points with three assists and three steals for Augsburg, while Carlius Hodges (FY, Minneapolis, Minn./North HS) came off the bench to score 11 points with three steals. Nate Alm (JR, Eden Prairie, Minn.) scored seven points with seven rebounds, Mitch Dice (SR, Savage, Minn./Bloomington Lutheran HS) had eight points with four rebounds, and David Olson (JR, Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes HS) scored six points with four assists and two steals.
Concordia was led by Luke Linz (SR, Watkins, Minn./Eden Valley-Watkins HS), who scored 21 opints with five assists, three blocked shots and four rebounds. Karl Olson (FY, Buffalo, Minn.) also had a near-perfect shooting night, hitting 4-of-4 from the field and 6-of-7 from the free-throw line to score 15 points. Erik Lien (FY, Moorhead, Minn.) scored 12 points with four rebounds, James Baldwin (SO, Hope, N.D./May-Port CG HS) scored 11 points and Ryan Johnson (SR, Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) scored nine points with two steals.
Augsburg shot 51.9 percent (27-of-52) from the field, hitting nine 3-pointers, while hitting 75.9 percent (22-of-29) from the free-throw line. Concordia hit 54.3 percent (25-of-46) from the field with four 3-pointers, and 85.7 percent (18-of-21) from the free-throw line. Augsburg outrebounded Concordia by a 27-26 margin.
Both teams return to MIAC play on Wednesday (2/20) at 7:30 p.m., as Augsburg plays at St. Mary's and Concordia hosts St. Thomas.
