Gustavus's Brody Ziegler (left) and Martin Feddersen look to stop Auggie guard Harry Sonie in Wednesday's 66-57 loss to Augsburg. (Photo courtesy of Laura Westphal, SPX Sports).
ST. PETER, MINN. – After suffering its first MIAC loss of the season this past Saturday, the Gustavus Adolphus men’s basketball team was looking to get back on track on Wednesday evening in its game against Augsburg College. However, after falling behind early, the Gusties could never make their way back and eventually fell by a final score of 66-57 to the Auggies on Gus Young Court. With the loss, Gustavus falls to 3-2 in the MIAC and 7-3 overall, while Augsburg improves to 4-1 in the MIAC and 7-3 overall.
“We didn’t get some of the rolls we needed or shoot incredibly well,” said head coach Mark Hanson. “You can sometimes win games shooting 43-percent, but to do that, you’d have to make more stops than we did tonight. That being said, it’s not as simple as whether we shot well or not…they created more layups, we had some poorly timed turnovers down the stretch and when we got within two, we had an untimely foul and another turnover. Our focus these next few days is going to need to be on taking care of the ball in those key situations.”
The game’s first six minutes featured both team’s trading three-point shots. Augsburg guard Brandon Little got the visitors off to a fast start by sinking a three-pointer on the Auggies’ first possession of the game, but Gustavus guard Isaac Tapp (Sr., Stewartville, Minn.) countered with a three-pointer of his own at the 17:06 mark in the first half to tie the game at 5-5. The Auggies’ Collin Olmscheid, a 6’7, 200 pound freshman center, sank another three ball at 14:40, before Gustie guard Chris Narum (Jr., Eagan, Minn.) was able to tie the game again, this time at 8-8, on his first of two three-pointers on the night. However, another three-pointer from Little at 13:24 would put Augsburg up by three again, and the Auggies would not relinquish their lead from that point forward.
“You can’t give up 49-percent shooting, including 50-percent from three-point range, and also allow them to go to the free-throw line 10 more times than us,” said Hanson. “However, credit Augsburg for their efficient shooting…they did a nice job of taking advantage of the open looks.”
Gustavus managed to keep the game within reach and only trailed by five going into the half. However, Augsburg would build its lead following halftime and with 8:06 remaining in the game, led the Gusties 52-40.
The Gusties would not go quietly though, and, similar to what they did in their previous game against St. Olaf, went on a large run midway through the second half. A Martin Feddersen (Sr. Winona, Minn.) layup at 7:38 would spark a 10-0 run for Gustavus over the next 2:47 that would bring the home team to within two (52-50). However, a foul by Sergio Najera (Jr., New Prague, Minn.) would allow Olmscheid to make a pair of free-throws and steal some momentum from the surging Gusties and on the next Gustie possession, Olmscheid would continue to make his prescence felt as he snared a steal from Feddersen and converted on a layup to bring the Augsburg lead back to six (56-50) with 3:12 remaining. The Auggies were able to maintain control from that point on and brought their lead back to 11 at one point before eventually winning by a final score of 66-57.
“We had a number of sloppy plays on those key possessions where we weren’t able to play our type of basketball,” said Hanson. “That really hurt us and the mistakes just added up a little bit too much down the stretch there.”
Gustavus was paced by Tapp’s 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting. He was followed by Brody Ziegler (Jr., Mankato, Minn.) who scored 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting and also pulled down four rebounds. Gary Cooper (Jr., Detroit, Mich.) tallied seven points on 3-of-8 shooting, pulled down a team high eight rebounds and also dished out a team high five assists. Gustavus shot 42.9-percent from the floor on 24-of-56 shooting and went just 28.6-percent from beyond the arc (4-for-14).
“We do need to find our rhythm a bit more on the offensive side,” said Hanson. “However, I really don’t believe our success hinges on either the offensive or defensive sides of the ball, we just didn’t make enough good plays on either end tonight.”
Augsburg was led by Olmscheid, who used his big frame and soft shooting touch to beat the Gusties from inside and out. He finished with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including going 2-for-2 from three-point range. Little, who came into the game averaging just 5.4 points per contest, finished with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including going 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. Overall, the Auggies shot 48.9-percent from the floor (22-of-45) and 50-percent from three-point range (8-for-16). Augsburg came into the game shooting just 43.5-percent from the field and only 36.8-percent from beyond the arc.
Gustavus will play its next game on Saturday in Winona against Saint Mary’s University. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.
Augsburg 66, Gustavus 57 (Box)