Scott, Healy, Leslie fuel Men's Basketball victory

W, 77-66
Augsburg (M), January 27, 2010

Senior guard Joe Scott matched his season-high with 21 points and the sixth-ranked Tommies sank 13-of-15 free throws in the second half to hold off visiting Augsburg, 77-66, in Wednesday's MIAC men's basketball game at CU's Gangelhoff Center.

The Tommies (16-2 overall, 12-1 MIAC), shot 54% on the game and had just nine turnovers as they ran their conference home win streak to 53 games dating back to a Jan. 2, 2006 loss to the Auggies.

St. Thomas is 5-0 over the last 12 days and has opened up a two-game lead on second-place Gustavus with seven games left in the 20-game MIAC race. The Gusties lost 78-75 at St. Mary's to take their third defeat in five games since a home win over UST on Jan. 13.

Augsburg (12-5, 7-5) never led despite shooting 55% from the field and posting a 27-22 rebounding edge.

The Auggies fell behind 13-4 and trailed 34-26 at halftime. They hung around all second half but couldn't get closer than seven. Andy Grzesiak-Grimm had three dunks among his 16 points and 11 rebounds in a 38-minute outing to lead Augsburg. Matthew Quammen scored 13 points and Jon Cassens added 11 for the Augs.

UST junior guard Alex Healy had 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists while making six of eight shots. Soph guard Peter Leslie was 3-for-3 in treys and finished with a career-high 10 points in 20 minutes off the bench, and Brady Ervin made all four shots off the bench to close with eight points. UST reserves made 11-of-16 shots.

PHOTOS: Top, Joe Scott; bottom, Peter Leslie

Leslie and Ervin helped offset a cold shooting night for the Toms' leading scorer, Tyler Nicolai, who was slowed by foul trouble and closed with two points, three assists and three steals in 29 minutes. It was Nicolai's first game of the season under nine points.

Scott's only other 20-point scoring game this year came last month when he collected 21 in a 77-61 win over the Auggies.

The Toms, who play Saturday at Macalester (3 p.m.), improved to 44-5 in January games over the last five seasons. The Toms are 40-0 over the last two seasons when they score 65 or more points.

Click here for box score:

http://www.tommiesports.com/mbb/stats/1-27-mbb.htm