MINNEAPOLIS – The Augsburg University men's basketball team fell to Macalester College 76-74 in the semifinal round of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs on Friday evening at Si Melby Hall.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Macalester 76, Augsburg 74
LOCATION: Si Melby Hall, Minneapolis, Minn.
RECORDS: Augsburg 17-7 overall (13-4 MIAC), Macalester 15-12 overall (9-10 MIAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
• The game remained close in the opening minutes, with Macalester holding a narrow lead for most of the first four minutes before Augsburg grabbed its first lead at the 15:41 mark. The Scots recapture the lead and pushed it as high as seven, but a 10-0 Auggie scoring run late in the half gave Augsburg a seven-point advantage at halftime.
• The lead continued to grow early in the second half, peaking at a 13-point advantage at the 16:11 mark. The Scots began to chip away at the deficit in the following minutes, using an 8-0 scoring run to make it a one-possession game. In what proved to be the final lead change of the game, Macalester took a 62-61 lead at the 8:27 mark.  
• Down by three points, the Auggies had a chance when Joe Palmer (JR, Faribault, Minn./Faribault HS) drew a foul with just three seconds remaining. Palmer hit the first free throw and intentionally missed the second, grabbing his own rebound to set up the final shot for the Auggies, but the shot did not fall as the buzzer sounded and Macalester hung on for the comeback win.
• Palmer led the Auggies with 20 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and a block.
• Conner Knoepfle (SR, Andover, Minn./Andover HS) was just behind him with 19 points on eight-of-13 shooting with three rebounds and three assists.
• Matt Carik (SR, Rogers Minn./Rogers HS) and Bradley Winter (JR, Winona, Minn./Winona HS) added 10 points and four rebounds each for Augsburg. Winter hit on five of his six shots from the floor while Carik connected on five-of-10.
• The Auggies outscored the Scots 12-4 in second chance points and won the battle in the paint by a margin of 44-28.
 
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
• Following the game, Palmer remains atop the MIAC overall statistics rankings with 9.0 rebounds per-game and 21.0 points per-game. Jack Sorenson (JR, Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville South HS) ranks second in the conference with a three-point field goal percentage of 44.6%.

FOR THE FOES
• Caleb Williams led all scorers with 22 points while Coby Gold and Gabriel Ramos added 14 each for Macalester.

UP NEXT
• With the loss, the Auggies are now eliminated from the MIAC Playoffs and will have to look for an at-large bid to the 2022 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball National Tournament. The 2022 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Selection Show will be streamed on NCAA.com at 11:30 a.m. on Monday morning.