Box Score
Concordia University, St. Paul, used big runs at the start of each half to upset No. 17 Augustana 82-79 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Friday night at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minn.
The Vikings slipped to 16-3 on the season and 9-3 in the NSIC. Concordia improved to 9-10 overall and 6-6 in the league.
The Golden Bears started each half with a surge. CU opened the game by scoring the first 9 points of the contest to grab the early momentum. Then in the second half, the Golden Bears ran off 11 unanswered points to turn a four-point Augustana advantage into a seven-point cushion for the home team.
Augustana managed to weather Concordia's first-half surge. Although the Vikings trailed by as many as 10 points, 15-5 with 15:44 on the clock, they settled down behind the shooting of
Cameron McCaffrey. The freshman from Portland, Ore., scored 19 of his career-high 24 points in the first half. All of his points came after the Vikings were down 10 points.
McCaffrey drained a 3-pointer with just under 8 minutes left in the half to give the Vikings their first lead of the game at 29-27. Augustana managed to stretch the lead to 5 points on two occasions before Concordia rattled off seven straight points to take a 41-39 lead with under 2 minutes to play in the frame.
However, McCaffrey scored the final 6 points of the half, the last 2 coming on a layup at the buzzer, sending the Vikings into the locker room with a 45-41 lead.
Concordia regained the momentum at the outset of the second half. Brent Barz scored 6 of his team-high 22 points during CU's 11-0 run to start the half and give the Golden Bears an 52-45 lead.
Augustana again chipped away at the deficit, and a 3-pointer by
Jordan Dalton with 13 minutes left to play, pulled the Vikings to within 58-56.
Concordia held off the Vikings and eventually stretched its lead to 9 points at 76-67 with 4:33 to play. However, Augustana used a 9-0 run to tie the game at 76-76 with 2:20 remaining.
Derrick De Zeeuw scored on a pair of offensive rebounds to knot the score.
A basket by CU's Courtney Tyler and a pair of free throws by Andrew Kuderer put the Golden Bears in front 80-76 with 39 seconds on the clock. On Augustana's next possession,
David Foster missed a jumper and Concordia grabbed the rebound.
Tyler added two more charity tosses to make the score 82-76 with 5 seconds to play. Dalton hit a 3-pointer before the buzzer to account for the final score.
For McCaffrey, he enjoyed the best game in his young career. He made 6 of his 7 field goal attempts in the first half, including 3 of 4 shots from 3-point range. Joining him in double figures were Foster with 12 points and
Cody Schilling with 10.
Barz paced Concordia with his 22 points on 8 of 8 shooting from the floor. Kuderer finished with a career-high 18 points.
Augustana will look to gain a split of its weekend road trip on Saturday when the Vikings travel to St. Cloud, Minn., to take on St. Cloud State in a 6 p.m. matchup.
