Men's Basketball 2/20/08 -- Augsburg 72, St. Mary's 57
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WINONA, Minn. (2/20/08) -- It's now down to a one-game season for the Augsburg College men's basketball team.
After outscoring St. Mary's University 38-19 in the second half to claim a 72-57 victory at the SMU Gym on Wednesday night, the Auggies put themselves in position to clinch a spot in the six-team Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference postseason playoffs on Saturday.
Augsburg (12-12 overall, 10-9 MIAC) is now tied with Bethel (14-10 overall, 10-9 MIAC) for sixth place in the league standings, and the two teams face each other on Saturday (2/23) at 3 p.m. at Bethel in Arden Hills, Minn., with the winner clinching the final spot in the league's postseason tournament. Augsburg beat Bethel 75-63 in the teams' earlier meeting on Jan. 21 at Augsburg.
After starting the season 0-6, Augsburg has won 12 of its last 18 games, including seven of its last eight, to remain in the postseason playoff chase.
St. Thomas (20-4 overall, 16-3 MIAC) and Gustavus (18-6 overall, 14-5 MIAC) had already clinched spots in the MIAC playoffs entering Wednesday's play, and Carleton (17-7 overall, 12-7 MIAC), St. John's (14-10 overall, 11-8 MIAC) and Concordia-Moorhead (12-12 overall, 11-8 MIAC) all clinched playoff spots with victories on Wednesday night.
Jon Cassens (SO, Prior Lake, Minn.) led all players with 24 points, hitting three 3-pointers and adding five rebounds for the Auggies against St. Mary's. He scored 17 of Augsburg's 38 second-half points. Femi Solaja (SR, Cottage Grove, Minn./St. Paul Harding HS) scored 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field with seven rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots, and Nate Alm (JR, Eden Prairie, Minn.) scored 13 points with eight rebounds.
Augsburg shot 51.0 percent (25-of-49) from the field, including seven 3-pointers, to claim the win. The Auggies also hit 15-of-19 from the free-throw line, and outrebounded St. Mary's by a 37-24 margin. Meanwhile, St. Mary's hit just 28.6 percent (8-of-28) in the second half and 41.7 percent (25-of-60) in the game, including just 2-of-20 from three-point range and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line.
David Olson (JR, Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes HS) scored seven points with five assists for the Auggies, and Matt Quammen (FY, Victoria, Minn./Holy Family Catholic HS) scored six points. Justin Kozlowski * (SR, Wausau, Wis./Wausau Newman HS) had five assists.
St. Mary's (2-22 overall, 2-17 MIAC) was led by Will Wright, who scored 18 points with five rebounds, five steals and three assists, while Lukas Holland scored 15 points with four rebounds and three assists, and Parick Connolly scored 13 points. St. Mary's finishes its season on Saturday (2/23) at 3 p.m. at Concordia-Moorhead.
