MINNEAPOLIS – Despite a late comeback effort that erased a 12-point second half deficit, the No. 22-ranked Augsburg University men's basketball team dropped its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest of the season on Saturday afternoon, falling 77-73 in heartbreaking fashion to St. Olaf College at Si Melby Hall.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: St. Olaf 77, Augsburg 73
LOCATION: Si Melby Hall, Minneapolis, Minn.
RECORDS: Augsburg 14-3 overall (11-1 MIAC), St. Olaf 11-9 overall (7-8 MIAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
• The opening minutes of the game were evenly matched, with neither team gaining more than a five-point advantage until the 10:14 mark. St. Olaf maintained the lead for the remainder of the first half and pushed it to as many as nine points, but a late Auggie run made it just a three-point game at the half.
• Augsburg got the first bucket of the second half on a jumper from Joe Palmer (JR, Faribault, Minn./Faribault HS) to bring the game within one, but a 9-0 run by St. Olaf once again put the game out of reach.
• The Oles held a significant advantage for the first 15 minutes of the second half, but a 7-0 run by the Auggies beginning at the 4:38 mark made it a one-possession game once again. With the Auggies trailing by three, Palmer made a layup and was fouled with just 29 seconds remaining, tying the game up on his lone attempt at the charity stripe. The Oles ran out as much clock as they could and nailed what proved to be the game-winning jump shot with just two seconds remaining.
• Conner Knoepfle (SR, Andover, Minn./Andover HS) finished as the offensive leader for Augsburg with 15 points on six-of-11 shooting to go along with two rebounds, two steals, and an assist.
• Will Schmidt (SR, Maple Grove, Minn./Totino-Grace HS) was a key contributor off the bench, notching 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds while grabbing a steal and an assist.
• Matt Carik (SR, Rogers Minn./Rogers HS) and Jack Sorenson (JR, Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville South HS) tallied 11 points, two rebounds, and a steal each for Augsburg with Sorenson adding five assists and Carik adding three.
•  Rayquan Moore (JR, Minneapolis, Minn./DeLaSalle HS) and Palmer scored nine and eight points for the Auggies, respectively.
• The Auggies connected on 26 of their 56 shots (46.4%) while the Oles hit on 30-of-60 (50%).

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
• Following the game, Palmer remains atop the MIAC overall statistics rankings with 9.4 rebounds per-game and 20.9 points per-game while sitting third with a field goal percentage of 55.4%.

FOR THE FOES
• Nathan Hendler scored 15 for St. Olaf while Dominic Bledsoe and Michael Meriggioli added 14 points each.

UP NEXT
• The Auggies will take on Gustavus on Monday (2/7) at 7 p.m. in St. Peter, Minn.