Basketball - Men's - News

UMD STUNS NO. 24 AUGUSTANA WITH 62-59 UPSET WIN

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Coming into Saturday night's men's basketball clash with the University of Minnesota Duluth, Augustana College had a perfect record on their home floor.

But the Bulldogs changed all that.

At the Elmen Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., UMD used their powerful inside game and solid defense to down a powerful No. 24 Viking club - in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference dogfight in front of a stunned crowd.

In a game the featured a pair of the best defensive teams in the NSIC, it looked as if Augustana (9-3 overall; 3-2 NSIC) was going to ease to their fourth home victory of the season, as they took a 24-19 lead in at halftime.

However, after the break, the Bulldogs (11-5; 5-1), who have now won three straight, turned the tables.

In a half included six lead changes and three ties, UMD used their lock-down defense, as well as some key free-throw shooting to hold off the Vikings for the last five minutes of the contest, en route to earning their second straight conference win.

The Bulldogs were again led by their post play, as junior forward Brian Sykora racked up team-highs in both scoring and rebounding. The captain earned his double-double by pouring in 15 points and snagging 12 rebounds. The Bloomington, Minn. native also shot 38 percent (5-of-13) from the floor and knocked in five of six free-throws on the night.

Fellow big man, senior center John Vaudreuil, also chipped in a solid 13 points for the Bulldogs, while he grabbed two rebounds and handed off two assists in the victory. The captain was 5-of-7 (71 percent) from the field and sank three of his five shots from the charity stripe.

Junior guard/forward Ron White had another stellar all-around performance for the maroon and gold, as he scored 11 points, while cleaning four rebounds off the glass and dishing out three assists. The Chicago, Ill. native was also a perfect 3-of-3 from the line in the huge conference win.

Another Bulldog scoring in double figures was freshman point guard Ryan Rasmussen. The sparkplug came off the bench to tally 10 points on the evening, as he buried UMD's only two shots from behind the arc and didn't miss a free-throw in the contest.

All in all, the Bulldogs shot had four players score in double figures, as they shot 80 percent (20-of-25) from the charity line, 39 percent from the floor (20-of-52) and 29 percent (2-of-7) from downtown - all higher than the Vikings - while they edged Augustana 37-35 on the glass in the big win.

The come-from-behind road victory - in which the Vikings led by as much as nine at one point - proved to be crucial, as the Bulldogs now sit in second place in the always-tough NSIC.

UMD will now head back home, before they are back in more grueling conference action this upcoming weekend, when they play host to NSIC-leading St. Cloud State (5-0; 10-2) on Friday (Jan. 9) at 8 p.m., followed by Concordia-St. Paul (6-6; 4-1) on Saturday (Jan. 10) at 8 p.m.

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