MINNEAPOLIS – The University of Minnesota Morris men's basketball team ended its long season-opening road swing with a 65-60 victory over Augsburg University on Monday night. The win improves the Cougars to 3-3 on the year.

The teams traded the lead back and forth through the opening minutes of the contest before the Minnesota Morris bench came in with a big contribution. Kenny Placide hit four straight shots in a two-minute stretch to give the Cougars a 16-13 lead and Thomas Tiernan finished the run off with a three-pointer to extend the margin to six. 

Augsburg responded with a 7-0 run to take a 20-19 edge on Minnesota Morris, but a 15-3 run followed for the Cougars and they would never trail again. Jacob Brooks, Jaret Johnson, and Blake Munson all had three-pointers in that stretch. UMN Morris went to the half with a 37-30 lead on the Auggies.

Minnesota Morris didn't make it easy, going 7-of-14 at the line in the second half, but a defensive effort that caused Augsburg to go 0-of-13 from beyond the arc after halftime was enough to hold on. The largest lead for the Cougars was 56-41 at the eight-minute mark and the team made just enough freebies down the stretch to secure the win.

Noah Kannegiesser led all scorers in the game with 14. He was joined in double-figures by Placide with 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting and Johnson with 10 points. 

Minnesota Morris makes its home debut for the 2022-23 season on Thursday with a 6 p.m. contest against Oak Hills Christian College.