Box Score
Foster's Game-Winner Lifts Augie Past St. Cloud State
MARSHALL, Minn. - Augustana's David Foster sank the game-winning three-pointer as time expired to lift the No. 7 seed Vikings to a 73-72 win over No. 2 seed St. Cloud State in the Central Region quarterfinals Saturday afternoon in Marshall.
Augie improves to 20-9, while SCSU, ranked No. 22 in the nation, finishes its season 22-9.
"I felt like it was a hard fought game, we were fortunate to get a lead early," said Augustana head coach Tom Billeter. "For whatever reason basketball’s a funny game. I’m not going to make anything up, we were fortunate to win the game and we do practice that play. It worked better today than it did in practice. We were fortunate to get the shot and get the win."
With just 10 seconds remaining and Augie trailing by three points, the Vikings' Jordan Dalton went to the line and canned two free throws to put his squad within one point.
SCSU had a chance to extend its one-point advantage just two seconds later, but Brett Putz was unable to convert a pair of attempts from the charity stripe, giving Augie an opportunity to hit the go-ahead basket.
However, that Viking opportunity quickly turned into an Augie turnover as Marques Blank committed an offensive foul that gave the Huskies a pair of free throws and a tight hold on their one-point lead.
Taylor Witt hit his first attempt from the line to make the Husky lead 72-70, but his second one hit the back iron and ended up in hands of Augie's Elliot Thomas. The Vikings quickly called a timeout with just two ticks left on the clock.
On the inbound, Eric Krogman launched his pass the length of the court direcly into the hands of Foster, who quickly turned to drill his game-winning jumper from the right wing as time expired.
"One time in high school, I think I was a junior. As soon as I let it go it felt good," responded Foster when asked if he had ever made a game-winning shot in his career before today.
Foster's 20 point lead Augie, who also a trio of others post double figures in the scoring column. Lee Stephens also had 14, Eric Krogman added 13 and Marques Blank chipped in with 11.
Taylor Witt finished with a game-high 21 points for SCSU. Matt Schneck had 17 points to go along with a game-high 11 rebounds, while Brett Carmichael netted 11 points.
The Vikings shot 44.1 percent from the field in the victory.
Augie will face Winona State tomorrow at 5 p.m. in the seminals.
