Men’s Basketball Continues Hot Shooting, Defeats Augsburg 73-63

Tyler Grey led the Gusties in scoring with 15 points in Monday's 73-63 victory over Augsburg.

Minneapolis – After picking up a big win over St. Thomas on Saturday and moving into a tie for first place in the conference standings, the Gustavus men’s basketball team refused to have a letdown after a short turnaround on Monday night against Augsburg.  The Gusties were able to build a 23-point lead in a strong first half performance, holding off a second half surge by Augsburg to win 73-63.

Gustavus picks up its third-straight win, improving to 14-5 overall and 11-3 in the MIAC.  With the loss, Augsburg drops to 12-7 overall and 9-5 in the MIAC.

For the second game in a row, four Gustavus players hit the scoresheet with double-digit points.  Tyler Grey led the team in scoring for the second time this season, dropping 15 points after going 6-for-8 from the field and 3-for-5 from three-point range.  Seth Anderson finished with 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting, while Jim Hill (4-9) and Blake Shay (3-5) contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Gustavus shot over 50-percent from the floor for the ninth time this season, going 28-for-50 (56%) from field, 7-for-11 (63.6%) from three-point range, and 10-for-16 (62.5%) at the charity stripe.

A layup by Paul Blacklock at the 9:59 mark lit the spark that broke the game open in the first half.  The Gusties went on a 16-1 scoring run in just over seven minutes to take a 38-15 lead after a pair of Blake Shay free throws.

Augsburg would make a 7-2 run to close the half and bring the score to 40-22 at the break.  Gustavus was a hot 63-percent from the field in the opening half.  Augsburg, in comparison, shot just 30.8-percent.  Twelve of Tyler Grey’s 15 total points came in the first half as he went 5-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 from downtown.  Gustavus was 4-for-4 from beyond the arc in the first half.

After Gustavus took a 47-25 lead with 17:56 left to play, Augsburg slowly began to chip away at the lead, cutting the margin to 11 points by the 13:08 mark.  The Gustavus lead would range between the 14 and 17 points until an 8-0 run brought the Auggies to within nine points (61-52) by the 6:46 point.

Jim Hill reached double-figures for the third-straight game, scoring 11 points and bringing down six rebounds.

Six points (67-61) would be as close as Augsburg would get, as Gustavus hit 5-of-6 free tosses in the final minute to secure the 10-point win.

Seth Anderson scored eight points in the second half to lead the Gusties.  Adam Michel, Jim Hill, and Blake Shay all scored six points.  Shay was 2-for-3 from three-point land in the half, hitting two-straight triples in the heart of the frame.

Augsburg finished 23-of-57 (40.4%) from the field, 5-of-21 (23.8%) from three, and 12-of-16 (75%) at the stripe.  It is the second time in three games that Gustavus has held an opponent to under 30-percent shooting from three-point range.

Andy Grzesiak-Grimm (8-18) registered a double-double with a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds.  Andy Seidlitz also reached double-figures with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting.

Ben Biewen finished with a season-high seven assists and five rebounds, while Paul Blacklock led the Gusties on the glass with seven boards.

The Gustavus men’s basketball team will cap the week with a home challenge against St. Olaf College on Wednesday night at Gus Young Court.  Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.

Box Score