ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College men's basketball team held off a late charge to defeat second-place Augsburg University, 65-63 Monday evening in the Leonard Center. The win clinches a home game in the first round of the MIAC Playoffs for the Scots, who improved to 11-12 overall and 8-10 in the conference. The Auggies fall to 15-6, 12-4 MIAC.

The win also was highlighted by Senior Night, as Macalester honored its seniors Shane Anderson (Fargo, N.D./Davies), Lucas Leiter (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Eagan), Gabriel Ramos (Dorado, Puerto Rico/Tasis Dorado) and Eric Sathy (Cupertino, Calif./Homestead), plus student managers Addie Brooke-Pike, Brook Geleta and Hannah Grosse.

The Scots held a 10-point lead late in the second half after a basket by Anderson made the score 60-50 with 4:30 remaining. Augsburg made a run, outscoring Macalester, 8-0 over the next 3:30 to cut the Scots' lead to two, 60-58 with a minute to play. Macalester responded in a big way, as sophomore guard Caleb Williams (Wild Rose, Wis./Wild Rose) drilled a three-pointer from 25 feet as the shot clock wound down for a 63-58 edge with 34 seconds left.

First year guard Coby Gold (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) answered an Auggies' basket with a pair of free throws to restore the five-point lead, 65-60 with 12 seconds on the clock. Augsburg's Rayquan Moore made a three, then Augsburg fouled to stop the clock. The Scots missed the front end of the 1-and-1, and the Auggies moved the ball to the front court and called timeout with 2.7 seconds left. The ensuing inbounds pass was lobbed under the basket, but Augsburg missed the layup at the buzzer, and Macalester celebrated the win. The victory avenges a 92-55 loss at Augsburg earlier this season.

In the first half, Macalester broke open a close game with a 17-0 spree ignited by a three from Leiter and punctuated by seven points from Williams for a 34-21 lead. Augsburg closed out the half with an 11-5 run to make the score 39-32 Scots at the break. The Scots shot 53.3 percent from the field in the first half, including 5-of-10 from three-point range.

After Macalester pushed the lead back up to 12 following a three from Gold and a layup by first year guard Robert Grace IV (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School), the Auggies used a 14-6 run to make it a four-point game, 52-48 with 9:38 to play. Back-to-back baskets from first year forward Badou Ba (Dakar, Senegal/Williston Northampton), including a monster dunk, helped to raise the Scots' lead back to 10 and set up the exciting finish. Macalester shot just 30.3 percent from the field in the second half and made 41.3 percent of the field goal attempts for the game, but the Scots held Augsburg to 35.4 percent shooting for the game.

Gold led Macalester with 13 points, while Williams tallied 11 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Ramos contributed nine points and six boards, while sophomore guard Tom Andreae (Newton, Mass./Newton North) added five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Joe Palmer led Augsburg with 16 points and nine rebounds.

The Scots close out the regular season on Wednesday, Feb. 16 with a league game at Hamline. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. in St. Paul.