Augustana Basketball Sweeps Northern State

by KDLT Sports
February 09, 2013 11:24 PM


ABERDEEN, S.D. --   The Augustana men's and women's basketball teams picked up wins at Northern State on Saturday night. 

In the men's game, Daniel Jansen recorded his second straight double-double finishing with a season-high 24 points and 11 rebounds to lead Augustana to a 72-62 road victory over Northern State on Saturday night.

Augustana (17-5, 13-5 NSIC) has now won nine straight games over Northern State (17-8, 12-6 NSIC), including five straight games in Aberdeen.

Cameron McCaffery finished the night with a team-high 25 points, 15 of which he scored in the second half. Freshman post Zach Huisken added 13 points, five rebounds and three assists for the Vikings on 3 of 4 shooting, including 2 of 2 from 3-point range. Huisken also hit 5 of 10 free throws in the contest.

Northern State had three players reach double-figures, led by Collin Pryor's 18 points. Geoffrey Firmin added 15 points while Dustin Tetzlaff pitched in with 14 points and nine boards.

Augustana opened the scoring in the game on a 3-pointer by McCaffrey and it never trailed on the night. The Vikings went on to take an eight-point lead at 13-5 in the first seven minutes of the half after a jumper by Leif Nomeland.

Northern State went on a 10-4 run over the next three and a half minutes of the first half to cut the Vikings' lead to two at 17-15.

Augustana answered with an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to take an 11-point lead at 28-17 with 5:35 to play in the first half. Northern State would cut that lead to just three over the final minutes of the first half and the Vikings led a 35-30 lead at the half.

Augustana shot 50 percent (13 of 26) from the field in the half, including 5 of 9 from 3-point range. Jansen led the Vikings in the half with 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting, including a 3-pointer and 4 of 8 shooting from the free throw line.

Northern State shot just 32 percent (10 of 31) from the field, including just 1 of 6 from 3-point range. Pryor and Firmin each finished the half with eight points.

NSU cut Augustana's lead to two at 36-34 with 18:37 to play in the half before the Vikings were able to push the lead up to nine at 48-39 over the next six minutes after a 3-pointer by McCaffrey.

Augustana led by 11 points (52-41) with 9:45 to play in the game and Northern State was able to cut the deficit to two at 56-54 with 5:20 left.

The two teams would trade baskets over the next two minutes before Yuriy Malasheko drilled a 3-pointer from the corner with 3:11 left in the game to put the Vikings up by five at 63-58.

The Vikings would close-out the final minutes of the game by hitting two field goals and five free throws to seal the 72-62 win.

Augustana stays on the road next weekend taking on the University of Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State.

In the women's game, five three-pointers and eight free throws to score a game-high 27 points for the Wolves.
 
To open the first half, Emily Schulte hit a pair of two-point buckets to give Augustana a brief four-point lead, 6-2.  The Wolves responded with a 12-2 run to take a six-point lead, behind two three-pointers. 
 
The Vikings clawed back within two points after Riley Nordgaard and Andrea Whitney connected on consecutive possessions.  Northern State answered with a three-point play by Sadie Stotesbery and owned a 19-14 lead with 9:00 remaining in the first half. 
 
Schulte hit a three and Whitney hit a jump shot to tie the game at 19-19.  Augustana took their first lead since the opening minutes after Faith TInlklenberg hit a pair of free throws capping a 7-0 run by Augustana.
 
The teams traded buckets for the remainder of the half and Cami Koehn's three-point jump shot cut the Northern State lead to 31-30 entering halftime.
 
The Vikings opened the second half on a 10-2 run to take a 40-33 lead.  Feeney hit a pair of jumpers supplemented by Ashley and Lydia Nelson's three-pointers in the first 4:11 of the first half.
 
NSU fought back with two three-point field goals from Kusler and trimmed the lead to three points.  The Vikings then went on a 12-1 run to give them a cushion they needed to close the game out.
 
Feeney and Koehn connected on three-pointers to pair with Ashley and Whitney's jumpers to highlight the Vikings' scoring spurt and give them a 54-40 lead.  The Wolves never got closer than nine points until Kusler hit a three with 1:18 remaining to cut the lead to seven at 62-57. 
 
Schulte and Ashley hit all four of their combined free throw attempts and Schulte pulled down the final Northern State miss to seal the game, 66-57.
 
Whitney finished with 12 points on an efficient 6 for 9 shooting night.