Men's Basketball 2/9/08 -- Augsburg 77, St. John's 64
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MINNEAPOLIS (2/9/08) -- Femi Solaja (SR, Cottage Grove, Minn./St. Paul Harding HS) claimed his eighth double-double of the season and 12th in his two years at Augsburg College with a 22-point, 13-rebound effort, scoring 13 points with nine rebounds in the second half as the Auggies rallied for a 77-64 victory over visiting St. John's University in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball game on Saturday afternoon at Si Melby Hall.
Jon Cassens (SO, Prior Lake, Minn.) scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half for the Auggies (10-11 overall, 8-8 MIAC), which won its fifth straight game and seventh in its last nine games. Since starting the season 0-6, Augsburg has won 10 of its last 15 games.
St. John's (12-10 overall, 9-8 MIAC) was led by Brady Brink (SR, Waconia, Minn.), who had a double-double with 26 points, 13 rebounds and three steals, and by Ryan Lieser (SR, Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori HS), who had 16 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Augsburg rallied from a 35-26 halftime deficit to claim the victory, outscoring the Johnnies 51-29 in the second stanza. After hitting 41.7 percent (10-of-24) from the field in the first half, including 2-of-10 from three-point range, the Auggies connected on 76.5 percent (13-of-17) from the field in the second half, including 4-of-5 from three-point range.
A 19-8 run over a 5:40 span -- with Cassens scoring 12 points in the run -- enabled the Auggies to tie the game at 48-48 with 12:11 left in the game, and a later 11-0 run over a five-minute span gave the Auggies a double-digit advantage, 63-53 with 3:40 left, and the lead to stay. Solaja had seven of Augsburg's 11 points in the game-deciding run.
Carlius Hodges (FY, Minneapolis, Minn./North HS) scored in double figures for the first time as a collegian, scoring 10 points for the Auggies. Justin Kozlowski * (SR, Wausau, Wis./Wausau Newman HS) scored seven points with four assists and four steals, and David Olson (JR, Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes HS), Nate Alm (JR, Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Matt Quammen (FY, Victoria, Minn./Holy Family Catholic HS) scored six points apiece.
For St. John's, Chris Schwartz (FY, Sioux Falls, S.D./Lincoln HS) scored six points and Sam Blank (FY, Rollingstone, Minn./Winona Cotter HS) scored five points.
St. John's outrebounded Augsburg by a 30-25 margin, but Augsburg scored 30 points off of 19 St. John's turnovers, while the Johnnies scored 18 points off of 16 Auggie miscues.
Both teams return to MIAC play on Wednesday (2/13), as Augsburg plays at St. Thomas at 7:30 p.m., and St. John's plays at Macalester at 7:45 p.m.
