ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College men's basketball team nearly erased a 14-point halftime deficit in a thrilling 89-86 defeat to Augsburg College Wednesday evening in the Leonard Center. The MIAC loss drops the Scots to 5-10 overall and 1-9 in league play, while the Auggies improve to 7-8, 5-5 MIAC.

Augsburg used hot shooting to take control of the game early, jumping out to a 23-9 lead. Four points from senior center Kareem Ismail (Pasadena, Calif./Flintridge Prep) and a conventional three-point play by sophomore forward Wyatt Ferm (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) sparked a 9-0 Macalester run that cut the deficit to five, 23-18 with 8:45 left in the half. But the Auggies regained the upper hand, pushing the lead to as many as 15 before taking a 49-35 advantage at halftime. Augsburg shot 58.6 percent from the field in the half, as Collin Olmscheid tallied 23 points in the game's first 20 minutes.

The Scots came out of the break on fire, getting back-to-back threes from sophomore guard Carl Salvino (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt) and sophomore forward Wyatt Ferm (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) to ignite a 12-3 run and cut the deficit to 52-47. Baskets by Ismail, Gutierrez and senior guard Dylan Kilgour (La Crescenta, Calif./Crescenta Valley) brought the Scots to within two, 57-55 with 12:21 to play. But eight points from Olmscheid in a 15-7 run pushed the Augsburg lead up to 10, 72-62 with 8:31 on the clock.

Macalester continued to battle, getting a pair of threes from Gutierrez and another from Kilgour, as well as three Salvino free throws that made it a one-point game, 76-75 at the five-minute mark. Kevin McKiernan answered with a three-pointer as Augsburg increased its lead to six, 83-77. Two more threes from Salvino and Kilgour closed the gap to one again with a minute left, and Gutierrez answered a pair of Olmscheid free throws with a layup to make the score 86-85 with 21 seconds left.

After Chuckie Smith hit one of two free throws on the next possession, a loose ball resulted in a jump ball in favor of the Scots with 2.9 seconds left. Gutierrez was fouled before the ball was inbounded, and he made the first free throw. The second was off the mark, and Olmscheid grabbed the rebound, made both free throws after being fouled and clinched the win for Augsburg.

Macalester shot a season-best 60.0 percent from the field, including 10-of-18 (.556) from three-point range. However, the Scots were 16-of-23 from the line compared to 27-of-31 (87.1 percent) for Augsburg. Gutierrez led Macalester with 25 points and four threes, while Ismail contributed 17 points, five rebounds, five assists and two blocks before fouling out. Ferm, who also fouled out, was 6-of-9 from the floor en route to 15 points. Kilgour added 13 points and four assists, and Salvino had 11 points, as the Scots had five players in double figures for the first time this season. Olmscheid, who ranks second in the MIAC in scoring behind Gutierrez, poured in 43 points while going 16-of-17 from the charity stripe.

Macalester continues MIAC play on Saturday, Jan. 21 with a game at Gustavus Adolphus. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. in St. Peter, Minn.