BOX SCORE
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Taylor Witt scored a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament-record 39 points to lead No. 6-seed St. Cloud State past No. 3-seed Augustana 79-73 in the opening round of the conference tournament Wednesday night in Sioux Fall, S.D.
SCSU improves to 14-13, while Augustana falls to 18-9.
The Huskies will advance to play No. 2-seeded U-Mary on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in St. Paul, Minn.
Augustana, which was No. 7 in the today's Central Region rankings, now waits to see if it will make the field for the NCAA Tournament.
Witt finished 11 of 23 from the field and 15 of 16 from the free-throw line. Kyle Schlaak held the previous NSIC Tournament record of 37 points against Southwest Minnesota State in 2001.
Josh Ortmann added 13 points for the Huskies, and Andrew Bernstetter had a game-high 12 rebounds.
Cameron McCaffrey led Augustana with 23 points;
Cody Schilling had 15 points and seven rebounds, and
Leif Nomeland scored 15.
The Vikings shot just 38.8 percent, marking their worst performance from the field since Dec. 10 when they went 35.7 percent from the floor. The Huskies countered with a 47.3-percent outing from the field, including a 59.3-percent second half.
In their prior two meetings--which they split--the two teams had beaten each other by a combined four points.
Behind two 3-pointers from McCaffrey and another by Nomeland, The Vikings opened the game on a 9-0 run.
But the Huskies had the game tied well inside the 10-minute mark and extended their lead as many as six points a handful of times before Augustana managed to inch back as the half winded down.
Nomeland's turnaround layup with 2:42 left before the break gave his team a 28-27 lead.
McCaffrey's 12 first-half points held the Vikings to a 34-29 lead at intermission.
SCSU took its first lead of the second half at 12:46 after Shaun Jensen hit a pair of free throws to put the Huskies ahead 45-44.
Augustana tied the game six minutes later, but 12 points from Witt in the game's final six minutes proved too much for the Vikings. He drilled two free throws with 13 second left to make it a six-point game.
The Vikings, who have qualified for every NSIC Tournament since joining the conference for the 2008-09 season, are still in search of their first tournament win.
The final Central Region rankings will be announced on Sunday at 9 p.m. via a webcast at www.ncaa.com. The top eight teams from each region advance. Augustana has made a total of nine NCAA Tournament appearances, including qualifying the past three years under head coach
Tom Billeter.
