St. Louis, Mo., December 3, 2011 – The Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team upset No. 1 ranked and previously unbeaten Augustana College, 71-68, to win the 28th Annual Lopata Classic on Saturday night at the WU Field House in St. Louis, Mo.
Senior Dylan Richter earned the Robert L. Burnes Most Valuable Player Award after pouring in a career-high 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field. Richter scored 17 of his game-high 27 points in the second half. Washington University freshman Brayden Teuscher, Augustana's Brian DeSimone and Bryant Voiles, Whittier's Willie Mebane and Wisconsin Lutheran's Alex Merbach were also named to the All-Tournament Team.
Washington University picked up its 12th-straight and 21st overall Lopata Classic Championship, and improved its all-time record to 50-6. The Bears have won 26-straight games in the Lopata Classic, and have not lost since the 1998 Classic.
Freshman Matt Palucki added a career-high 12 points and nine rebounds in 35 minutes of action, while sophomore Kevin Bischoff added a career-best eight points on 2-of-2 shooting from three-point range. The Bears shot 44.1 percent (26-59) from the field in the win, and had a 23-11 advantage in bench points.
Washington U.'s defense limited Augustana to 36.5 percent (19-52) shooting. The Vikings hit 23-of-29 free-throws, as Washington U. was called for 23 fouls. Voiles (17 points), DeSimone (15 points), Troy Rorer (12 points), Luke Scarlata (11 points) and Brandon Kunz (10 points) all scored in double figures for Augustana.
Augustana controlled the opening four minutes of the contest, but a jumper by Palucki and a three-pointer by Richter gave Washington U. its first lead of the game at 12-10 with 15:30 left. Palucki connected on his first three shots of the game and had six points in the opening four minutes.
Another three-pointer by Richter from the top of the key knotted the contest at 22-22, and then a put-back and a three-pointer from junior Max Needle gave Washington U. a 27-24 advantage with 4:16 to play. With three guards on the bench, Bischoff came in and drilled a three-pointer and then scored on a driving lay-up to give Washington University the 32-27 lead with 1:51 to play.
Augustana (5-1) answered back with the final eight points of the first half to take a 35-32 lead to the locker room. DeSimone drilled a three-pointer from the wing, and then after a pair of free-throws by Voiles, DeSimone broke the tie with another three with 32 seconds left to give Augie the three-point advantage.
Richter had 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting, but spent the final 6:27 of the half on the bench with two fouls. Voiles led all scorers with 13 points in the first half on 6-of-6 shooting from the foul line. Washington U.'s bench outscored Augustana 14-1 in the opening 20 minutes of play.
A 6-2 run by the Bears early in the second half knotted the score at 43-43 following a lay-up by senior Alex Toth. Bischoff came off the bench again in the second half and immediately made an impact as he buried a three-pointer from the wing to give the Bears a 48-47 lead with 14:16 to play.
Richter recorded a three-point play to give the Bears a four-point advantage (56-52), but Augustana scored the next five points to get the lead back at 57-56 before a Viking timeout. Richter's step-back put Washington U. back up 61-59, but DeSimone's jumper on the ensuing possession made it 61-61.
Sophomore Alan Aboona scored his lone bucket of the game, a driving lay-up with 5:10 to play, to put the Bears up two, and then Teuscher added a pair of free-throws to make it 65-61. Augie cut the lead to two, but Richter drained his fifth three-pointer from the wing on an assist from junior Robert Burnett to push the advantage to 68-63 with 2:36 to play.
Teuscher made two key free-throws with 26.2 seconds left to seal the victory. Augustana had one last chance, but DeSimone's three-pointer was off the mark with five seconds left.
Washington U. (5-2) continues its four-game home stand against Webster University on Wednesday, Dec. 7. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. at WU Field House in St. Louis, Mo. The game will be broadcast live at: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/wustl.portal.
Bear Notebook: The Bears are 135-17 (.888) at the WU Field House since the 2000-01 season … Washington U. leads the all-time series with Augustana, 4-3 … Augustana was the first No. 1 ranked visiting team to play at the WU Field House since 2005 … The victory for Washington U. head coach Mark Edwards was the 547th of his career … The score was tied 14 times and there were 17 lead changes.