Box Score
Augustana put together its best shooting night of the season and then had to fend off a late Minnesota State University, Mankato, rally as the Vikings defeated the 21st-ranked Mavericks 113-101 in the final home game of the regular season Wednesday night at the Elmen Center.
Augustana improved to 19-7 on the season and moved into a tie for third place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference with a 13-6 league record. MSU fell to 22-7 overall and 13-6 in the NSIC.
Fighting for a chance to host a first round game in next week's NSIC / Sanford Health Basketball Tournament, Augustana shot lights out the entire night.. The Vikings shot a season-high 63.8 percent, making 37 of 58 field goal attempts.
Augustana,
Mike Klepatz in particular, was torrid in the first half. Making just his second start of the season on Senior Night, Klepatz made 9 of the 10 shots he attempted in the first half as he scored 21 points in the stanza. His previous season high for a game was 19 points. He finished the night with 23 points.
The Vikings began to pull away in the final 14 minutes of the first half. Leading 15-10, the Vikings outscored MSU 13-6 over a 4-minute span to open up a 28-16 lead with just under 10 minutes to play in the half. Klepatz was the driving force during the rally, netting 7 points.
Following a basket by MSU's Joe Drapcho, the Vikings reeled off 13 consecutive points to increase their lead to 41-18 with 6:28 left in the half.
After going inside for most of their points in gaining a 56-39 halftime lead, the Vikings took their act outside the 3-point line in the second period.
David Foster made his first five shots of the half, four of which were 3-pointers, as Augustana outscored the Mavericks 13-4 to start the half. The outburst pushed the Viking lead to 69-43 with 17:16 to play in the game.
Foster scored 23 of his career-high 33 points, and made 5 of his career-high 7 3-pointers, in the second half.
However, it almost wasn't enough. Even though Augustana led by as many as 27 points, 72-45 with 16:13 left in the game, the Vikings weren't able to secure the victory until the final minutes.
Minnesota State made a late charge in the final 5 minutes of the game. Trailing 99-77, MSU went on a 16-1 run to cut the deficit to single digits at 100-93 with 2:40 left on the clock.
With the Mavericks forced to foul, the Vikings made 11 of 12 free throws down the stretch to thwart the comeback attempt. Foster's breakaway dunk with 29 seconds on the clock punctuated the victory.
All five Viking starters reached double figures.
Eric Krogman netted 14 points, while
Cody Schilling added 13 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists.
Marques Blank poured in 12 points and dished out a season-high 9 assists.
Jesse Clark paced Minnesota State with 26 points, while Marcus Hill finished with 22. Jake Morrow was also in double figures with 16 points.
Augustana concludes the regular season on Saturday with a key game at Minnesota Duluth. Tipoff is slated for 5 p.m. Augustana, MSU, UMD and St. Cloud State are all tied for third in the NSIC standings and are fighting for the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds in the conference tournament. The top 4 seeds host first round games.
