Late Game Heroics Fall Short

The Royals efforts late in the second aren’t enough as they fall to Augsburg.

By Joe Hiti and Taylor Fondie

Coming off a screen at the top of the key, Derek Magnuson caught the ball. With no defender in sight, he shot and made his fourth 3-pointer of the game, cutting Augsburg’s lead to three.

“They weren’t guarding me,” said Magnuson. “So I shot it.”

In his 24 point outing the Bethel big man went 4–4 from deep in a loss to Augsburg University Wednesday night.

“Every game we play on runs,” Magnuson said in response to the Royals going down by 16 in the second half. “As a team we did a great job playing possession by possession until we were back in it.”

The Royals went a on run of their own late in the second that saw Magnuson picking up 14 of his 24 points.

They started the game on a 9–0 run against the Auggies. But quick threes by the Auggies put the Royals into a hole they couldn’t get out of. The Auggies leading scorer Booker Coplin had 36 points.

The Royals came within two points by the end of the second half. The Augsburg coach was quick to have his players foul the Royals who were down by three, forcing them to shoot free throws with less than 10 seconds in the game.

“Practice and talking to teammates. We just have to stay locked in,” said Matt Ambriz on how to take their late game momentum into the next game.

“We work so hard behind the scenes. There is no day were we aren’t there for each other” Magnuson said about keeping motivated and moving forward to their next opponent.