MINNEAPOLIS – The Augsburg University men's basketball team finished its season on a strong note on Saturday afternoon, topping Macalester College 78-75 in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Senior Day at Si Melby Hall.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Augsburg 78, Macalester 75
LOCATION: Si Melby Hall, Minneapolis, Minn.
RECORDS: Augsburg 8-17 overall (6-14 MIAC), Macalester 15-10 overall (11-9 MIAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
• With both teams tied at six each through nearly four minutes of play, Augsburg took the lead and ran with it, extending the advantage to double digits before the midpoint of the half. The lead ballooned all the way to 15 before the Scots cut it to 11 at halftime.
• The Auggies maintained a double-digit lead throughout a majority of the early portion of the second half. With Augsburg leading 72-64 with just over five minutes remaining, the Scots went on a 9-0 scoring run to take their first lead of the half at 73-72 with 3:31 to play. The Auggies stood their ground and quickly regained control, jumping back on top for what proved to be the final time at 74-73. A late three pointer from Colin Meade (JR, Rochester, Minn./Lourdes HS) and a made free throw by Conner Knoepfle (SR, Andover, Minn./Andover HS) in the game's final two minutes helped the Auggies hang on for the 78-75 win.
• Meade led the Auggies with 18 points on 5-10 shooting, also pulling down five rebounds. Will Blascziek (SO, Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North HS) finished second on the team with 14 points on 6-12 shooting and six rebounds off the bench.
• Knoepfle was next in line, finishing with 13 points and seven rebounds in his final collegiate game. Burke Nesbit (SR, Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson HS) was another senior standout for Augsburg, scoring a career-high 12 points on 4-8 shooting from beyond the arc in the first start of his career. Bradley Winter (SR, Winona, Minn./Winona HS) finished with nine points in his final career-appearance, knocking down three of his seven shots with all seven attempts coming from beyond the arc.
• Augsburg was the stronger team on the glass all afternoon, outrebounding the Scots 42-30 and outscoring them 9-2 on second-chance opportunities. The Augsburg bench contributed 23 points while Macalester got no points from its second unit.

FOR THE FOES
• Badou Ba led all scorers with 20 points while Caleb Williams finished with 18 and Tom Andreae and Coby Gold added 13 each.