Kevin Sethre, Contributor

Over the holiday break, the Augsburg men’s basketball team played five games, winning three of them. Of those three wins, two were road games against St. Mary’s and Gustavus Adolphus, with their lone home win against Bethel. Augsburg’s two losses were against St. John’s and a triple-overtime thriller against St. Thomas. After the break, the Auggies traveled to St. Paul and beat Hamline 91–68. Then, three days later, they traveled to St. Olaf and won 96–89 in overtime.

   On Monday, Augsburg hosted Macalester. The Scots took an 18–9 lead with 10:17 remaining in the first half. The Auggies took a 31–29 lead 43 seconds before halftime, a lead they would not give up the rest of the game.

      The Auggies started shooting better in the second half, and eventually had a 13-point lead with less than four and a half minutes left. That’s when the Scots caught fire and went on a 14–2 run, putting them within one with a minute still to play. A Martin Mitchell layup put Augsburg up by three. After both teams had the ball again, Augsburg fouled Macalester, forcing them to shoot free throws instead of giving them the chance to tie with a miracle three. The Mac player made the first but missed the second, and the rebound went to Matt Carik, who dribbled out the remaining time on the clock, giving the Auggies a 71-69 victory.

    Booker Coplin led Augsburg on the night, playing the entire game and getting a double-double with 22 points and 17 rebounds. Keep the team’s seven steals. Kevin McKiernan added 17 points and hit four of Augsburg’s eight three-pointers.

    The Auggies travel to Moorhead to take on the Cobbers of Concordia on Saturday.

This article was originally published in the Jan. 25, 2019 issue.