Augustana Crashes Boards In Big Win Over Concordia-St. Paul

ST. PAUL, MN -- Augustana grabbed a season-high 49 rebounds, including a season-high 19 on the offensive glass, in an 89-68 win over Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday night in St. Paul. The Vikings (11-7, 8-4 NSIC) led the Golden Bears (4-12, 1-11 NSIC) by as much as 37 in the second half and were led by Daniel Jansen's 23 points.

Jansen finished the game 10 of 11 from the field, matching his career-high for made field goals in a game, including 1 of 1 from 3-point range. Casey Schilling notched his second-career 15-15 game, finishing with 21 points and a career-high 16 rebounds to go along with three steals and two assists.

Augustana out-rebounded Concordia-St. Paul 49-23 in the game, including 19-7 on the offensive glass. Freshman guard Adam Beyer matched his career-high with six rebounds for Augustana, adding six points and three assists in the game.

Yuriy Malashenko added 11 points and seven rebounds, going 6 of 6 from the free throw line. Augustana finished the game 23 of 26 (88.5 percent) from the free throw line with four players going perfect at the line individually.

Terez VanPelt finished with a game-high 26 points for Concordia-St. Paul as the Golden Bears finished the game shooting 40 percent from the field. Cordell Smith was the only other Golden Bear with double-digits in points, finishing with 13 and four rebounds.

Augustana jumped out to an early 9-2 lead, using the offensive glass to take the lead over the Golden Bears. The Vikings grabbed three offensive rebounds in its first four possessions of the game, forcing CU into an early timeout after Jansen gave Augustana the seven-point lead with his third basket in the first three minutes of the game.

Jansen continued to get good looks in the early goings of the game giving the Vikings a 13-4 lead with his fifth field goal of the first half just 4:13 into the game and heading into the first media timeout of the night. Schilling pushed Augustana's lead to 11, at 15-4, with his first basket of the night but VanPelt brought the Golden Bears within six nailing a 3-pointer and scoring on a fastbreak after an Augustana turnover for back-to-back baskets.

The two teams traded baskets over the next three minutes as Augustana held on to a 22-13 lead with 9:38 left in the half before Schilling went on a fastbreak for a right-handed jam and hit a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions, sparking a 7-2 run that gave his team a 14-point 29-15 lead with eight minutes left in the half.

The Vikings built a 20-point lead heading into intermission, leading 49-20, after shooting 46 percent from the field and going 12 of 12 from the free throw line. Jansen finished the half 8 of 18 from the field, hitting a 3-pointer for 17 points. Schilling recorded a double-double in the first half with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Concordia-St. Paul finished the half shooting 40 percent from the field, and was led by VanPelt's 13 points on 5 of 8 shooting, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range.

The Vikings dominated the glass in the first half, out-rebounding the Golden Bears 28-7 after the first 20 minutes, including 14-2 on the offensive glass.

Augustana started out the second half on an 8-0 run after back-to-back 3-pointers by Schilling and Ethan Guske and extended it to 24-7 over the first six minutes of the second half to take its largest lead of the game, 37 points, at 73-63.

With Augustana leading 76-41 with 11:52 to play in the game, Concordia-St. Paul went on a 14-2 run to cut Augustana's lead to 23 but the Vikings were able to answer by scoring six straight points pushing their lead back to 29 at 84-55 with five minutes left.

Augustana returns to the Elmen Center next weekend to host Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State. The Vikings will look for the season sweep of USF at 8 p.m. on Friday night and will look to avenge a last-second loss to SMSU at 6 p.m. on Saturday night.

Courtesy:  Augustana College