MINNEAPOLIS – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s basketball team suffered a 63-59 loss to Augsburg College on Monday evening at Si Melby Hall. Gustavus never trailed by more than 10, but also never led, making for a close game throughout. With the loss, the Gusties fall to 8-7 in the MIAC and 12-8 overall, putting them in a three-way tie for fifth place in the MIAC alongside the Auggies and Concordia College, Gustavus’s next opponent.
The Gusties quickly fell behind 11-4, but never let the Auggies go on a deep run and were able to stay within eight points for the entire first half. By halftime, Augsburg led 33-28. The Auggies shot 4-of-6 from three-point range in the opening half compared to Gustavus going 2-for-11. Collin Olmscheid led the way for Augsburg through the first 20 minutes, scoring 12 points on 3-of-6 shooting, including going 2-for-3 from beyond the arc.
Following the half, the Auggies went on a brief 4-0 run to take a nine-point lead (37-28) which equaled their largest lead of the game. Three-pointers by Gary Cooper (Jr., Detroit, Mich.) and Chad Poppen (Jr., St. Peter, Minn.) early in the second half helped Gustavus to keep the Gusties close, but Augsburg still led 48-40 with 11:46 to play.
It was then Gustavus went on a 7-0 run, keyed by layups from Poppen and Martin Feddersen (Sr., Winona, Minn.) and a three-pointer by Chris Narum (Jr., Eagan, Minn.) to bring the scored to 48-47. However, the Auggies’ Parker Hines slowed the Gustie momentum with a layup that brought the Auggie lead back to three and the Gusties would not get that close again until a Feddersen layup with 2:54 remaining in the game brought the Augsburg lead to 60-57. Hines again countered to bring the lead back to five, but Feddersen got to the rim one last time to cut the lead back to three (62-59) with 1:28 left to play. But Gustavus managed only one shot attempt in that last 1:28, and Augsburg eventually secured the four-point victory.
Feddersen led Gustavus with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting and also had six rebounds, both team highs. Cooper was next with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting and four rebounds and Poppen tallied 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting with three rebounds.
Olmscheid led Augsburg with 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting, while Auggie leading scorer Hines notched a double-double with his 11 point, 10 rebound effort. The Auggies shot 51 percent from the floor compared to the Gusties 48.1 percent and also out rebounded Gustavus 31-26.
Gustavus will take on another tough opponent in a key game with Concordia on Wednesday evening in Moorhead. Tip-off is set for 7:45 p.m. due to the distance between the two schools.
Augsburg 63, Gustavus 59 (Box Score)