Box Score
The Augustana men's basketball team was outscored 14-2 in the final 5:42 of play to lose 67-64 to the University of Minnesota Duluth, closing out regular season play Saturday in Duluth, Minn.
After dropping its second game this season to UMD, Augustana ends the season with a 19-8 overall record, while finishing 13-7 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, while the Bulldogs finished 20-10 overall and 14-6 in the NSIC.
After leading for over 37 minutes, the undermanned Vikings could not hold off UMD, as the Bulldogs made 15 free throws down the stretch to ice the win.
The Vikings had a 56-45 lead with 8:32 to go in the game, but UMD fought back and for the first time in the game the Bulldogs gained the lead at 64-62 after a John Vaudreuil layup with 2:03 to go in the game.
Augie had a chance to go ahead with 12.9 second to go, down 65-64, but UMD caused a Viking turnover with just six seconds to play.
The Vikings got up quickly in the first half, starting the game on a 13-2 run in the first five minutes after an old-fashioned 3-point play by
Chad Hettermann.
Augie got up by as many as 13 in the first half with the score at 28-15, but the Vikings went ice cold and did make a basket for the next five minutes, as the Bulldogs pulled to within a basket at 28-26 with 4:08 remaining in the half.
Augustana closed out the second half with a pair of 3-point plays by Hetterman and
Elliot Thomas to go into halftime with a 38-32 lead, as the Bulldogs used six 3-pointers to climb back into the game.
The Vikings shot 42 percent from the field on 25-of-60 shooting in the game while going 11 of 16 from the free throw line.
UMD shot 39 percent on 22-of-56 shooting in the game, but made 15 of its 17 free throws in the second half to end the night shooting 77 percent from the charity stripe.
Foster led all Augustana scorers with 20 points, while shooting 8-of-15 from the field.
Cody Schilling had a solid night scoring 8 points, while grabbing 7 rebounds.
Vaudreuil had a game-high 24 points for the Bulldogs, while teammate Brian Sykora had a game-high 16 rebounds, while scoring 8 points.
The first round NSIC tournament game pairings will be announced following the conclusion of all the NSIC men's games Saturday night.
