NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team held a three-point halftime lead before Augsburg University exploded for 58 second-half points to claim a 101-77 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) victory on Monday night at Skoglund Center.

St. Olaf (4-5, 1-1 MIAC) took a 46-43 lead into the halftime break after a first half where both teams shot over 50.0 percent from the field, but Augsburg (7-1, 2-0 MIAC) shot 23-for-35 (65.7 percent) from the field and 8-for-10 (80.0 percent) from three-point range in the second half to break the game open. The Auggies became the first team to score 100 points against the Oles since Whitman College on Nov. 18, 2016.

After being named the MIAC Offensive Player of the Week earlier in the day, senior Kobe Kirk scored a game-high 26 points while shooting 9-for-15 from the field, 4-for-8 from three-point range, and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line for St. Olaf. First year Max Kraay and sophomore Rex Lamb were also in double figures with 14 and 13, respectively.

Hanif Muhammad – a transfer from NCAA Division II St. Cloud St. University – led five Auggies in double figures with 19 points, JJ Semanko recorded a double-double of 15 points, 14 rebounds, and five assists, Isaac Rabaey had 15 points, and Elias Batala tallied 13 points. Daveion Hart scored 11 off the bench to help the Auggies to a 39-14 advantage in bench scoring.

Augsburg entered the night shooting 49.5 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from behind the arc this season but easily surpassed both of those marks, shooting 59.2 percent (42-for-71) overall and 57.1 percent (12-for-21) from three-point range. The Auggies hit at a higher percentage from the field and behind the arc than they did from the free-throw line, where the visitors were 5-for-12 (41.7 percent).

Kirk scored 10 of St. Olaf's first 14 points over the opening 5:52 to help the Oles to an early six-point lead. Later in the half, the senior scored all eight points over an 8-0 run that spanned 1:10 to give him 18 of St. Olaf's first 26 points 11:38 into the game. The Oles led by just two at that point, however.

St. Olaf led for 12:09 of an opening half where the largest lead either way was six points. Lamb made two of four consecutive three-pointers for the Oles late in the half to help St. Olaf to a 46-43 lead at the break. Lamb, Kirk, Kraay, and sophomore Liam Roche combined for all but two of St. Olaf's 46 first-half points.

Augsburg started the second half by making eight of its first nine shots to start the half on a 19-4 spurt to take a 62-50 advantage. St. Olaf got the next four points to close the gap to single digits, but the Auggies responded with a 9-0 run over the span of less than two minutes to go up by 17 and led by at least 15 the rest of the way. Ten Auggies scored in the second half, led by 12 points from Muhammad.

St. Olaf will host Concordia-Moorhead in the second game of a doubleheader on Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 7:15 p.m.