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BULLDOGS WIN FIFTH STRAIGHT IN THRILLING FASHION; TIP VIKINGS 67-64

Saturday, February 28, 2009

University of Minnesota Duluth freshman point guard Ryan Rasmussen hit just three free-throws throughout the course of Saturday night's Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference battle against Augustana College.

But it was those three free-throws that meant everything for the Bulldogs.

It was Rasmussen's swish from the charity stripe with just 1:38 left on the clock that broke a 64-64 tie in the conference clash, while his final two makes from the line secured the Bulldogs a thrilling 67-64 come-from-behind victory over the Vikings to close out their regular season before a raucous crowd of 913 rowdy fans at Romano Gymnasium.

UMD has now won a season-high five straight games, but played from behind throughout nearly the entire contest. It was the Bulldogs (20-10 overall; 14-6 NSIC) who seemed to come out of the gates slow after earning a hard-fought 126-124 quadruple overtime win at Bemidji State last Wednesday, while visiting Augustana rolled to an early 17-8 lead before some fans even opened their programs.

The Vikings (19-8; 13-7) later increased their advantage by 13, as they led 28-15 with roughly eight minutes left in the first half, but it was the Bulldogs who tallied 17 of the last 27 points on the scoreboard and as the teams headed to the locker rooms, Augustana found themselves up just 38-32.

After the break, the Vikings continued to roll much like in the first frame, as they opened up their lead to 56-45 with just roughly eight minutes remaining and being down 11, it looked as if the Bulldogs were going to need a miracle to pull of the win.

Well; their wishes came true.

It was senior center John Vaudreuil who made a lay-up with just two minutes left to give UMD their first lead at 64-62 and after Augustana knotted it up, it was Rasmussen who took over.

The Bulldogs were guided by Vaudreuil, as the UMD's leading scorer on the season cashed in a game-leading 24 points and collected eight rebounds for UMD in the thrilling victory. The captain big-man also drained an eye-popping 91-percent (10-for-11) of his shots from the charity stripe, while he handed off a game-high four assists on the exciting evening.

Rasmussen closely followed Vaudreuil in the scoring department, as he racked up 14 points on knocking down four of his eight (50 percent) attempts from the field, to go with his three clutch free-throws, an assist and a steal in the win.

The Bulldogs leading rebounder this season, junior forward Brian Sykora, again paced UMD on the glass, as the captain snagged a game-best 16 boards and scored eight points, while junior guard Ron White tallied 10 points, nabbed a steal, dished off an assist and blocked a shot on the night.

After the final buzzer, UMD shot a solid 77 percent (17-for-22) from the free-throw line, 39 percent (22-for-56) from the field and 29 percent (6-for-21) from downtown, while they destroyed the Vikings on the glass 42-33 en route to the emotional victory.

With their late surge of success, the Bulldogs have now positioned themselves as the No. 5 seed in the upcoming NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament - which features only the top-8 teams in the conference - and will hit the road to collide with No. 4 MSU-Mankato (23-7; 14-6) in the first round of the always-exciting event next Wednesday (Mar. 4) at 8:00 p.m.

For the full NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament bracket, visit www.northernsun.org.

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