UMC MEN’S BASKETBALL SECOND HALF COMEBACK COMES UP SHORT IN LOSS TO AUGUSTANA

The #14 ranked Augustana Vikings scored the first 14 points of the game and built a 30-point first-half lead and held off a furious comeback as they beat the University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Men’s basketball team 78-59 in a Northern Sun Conference game played in Crookston. 

FIRST HALF –
Augustana started the game by scoring the first 14 points of the game.  UMC finally scored their first points over five minutes into the game when Jerome Mabry (Soph. Milwaukee, Wis) made a three-pointer, and Uzo Dibiamaka (Soph. South Adelaide Australia) followed with a basket to get within a 14-5 deficit.  Augustana continued their domination as they responded with an 11-0 run behind a couple of three-pointers and led 25-5 halfway through the half.
Trailing 27-7, UMC went on a 6-0 run with baskets from Ron Kirk (Fresh. Milwaukee, Wis), Mabry, and Marcus Thompson (Jr. Brooklyn, NY) to get within a 27-13 deficit with 7:15 left in the half. UMC trailed 29-14 when Augustana went on another run, this time a 15-0 run, and led 44-14 with less than two minutes remaining, and the Vikings took a 47-19 lead into halftime.
Augustana made 19 of 34 shots at a 56 percent clip, while UMC was 7 of 32 for 22 percent.   The Vikings also outrebounded UMC 26-15 in the first half.

SECOND HALF –
UMC had a much better start to the second half as they started the half with the first five points and started on a 17-5 run.  Dibiamaka started the scoring with a three-pointer and Mabry followed with a layup.  After a Viking three-pointer, UMC’s Leonard Dixon (Jr. Demascus, OR) buried a three-pointer.  After a Viking layup, UMC scored 11 straight points with six points from Thompson, a three-pointer from Dixon, and a basket from Dibiamaka to get within a 52-38 deficit with 11 minutes left in the game.
UMC continued their outstanding second-half play and after an Augustana free throw, the Golden Eagles responded with back-to-back layups from Thompson, and Nathanial Powell (Soph. Nottingham, England) to get within an 11-point deficit (53-42) with nine minutes left in the game.  Augustana scored two points on a layup and UMC responded with a Kirk basket and a Dixon three-pointer to bring the Golden Eagles within eight points (55-47) with less than eight minutes to go.  UMC once trailed by 30 points late in the first half.   Augustana responded with seven straight points over a three-minute span to take a 62-47 lead. Augustana finished the final 98 seconds of the game on a 10-3 run with two dunks and held on to win 78-59. 

UMC drops to 7-14 overall and 4-11 in the NSIC and will host the University of Mary on Friday, February 4.  Augustana improves to 11-2 in the NSIC and 17-2 overall.