MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris men's basketball team came to play in their home opener on Tuesday night, connecting on 10-of-15 shots from three-point land and shooting better than 50 percent from the field as a team in an 86-64 win over Augsburg University. The Cougars improve to 2-1 on the season.

The tone for the night was set by Pal Dak. The senior guard hit a three a minute into the game to make it 3-0 and then connected again two trips later for a 6-5 advantage that Minnesota Morris would not give up the rest of the way. Dak followed that with a three-point play the old-fashioned way and then hit a short jumper in the paint to account for the first 11 Cougar points. Ian Fahje became the first other Minnesota Morris player to score when he canned a three six minutes into the game for a 14-5 lead and Dak converted another three-point play to push the lead to 17-5 at the 12:21 mark of the opening half.

A Jarrett Kujava jumper at 9:25 gave Minnesota Morris a 27-8 lead before a dry spell of more than five minutes allowed Augsburg to climb back into it at 27-18. Coming out of a timeout, Gus Gunderson had another three-point play for the Cougars and the team was back off to the races, taking a 44-27 halftime edge after Dak finished the half with two more triples in the last two minutes to give him 22 at the break.

An Augsburg rally never really came. Minnesota Morris handled business coming out the locker room and increased the lead to 62-34 on two Tarik Iyob free throws with 13:30 left. The Auggies began to find some more success on the offensive end after that but the deficit was too great. Augsburg got as close as 77-62 with 2:50 to play, but the Cougars put the game to bed at the free-throw line and with a Kenny Placide throwdown off a Blake Munson behind-the-back pass with 1:15 to go. 

Dak's 31 points represented a new career high for the senior (previously 21) as he shot 11-of-17 from the floor, including 4-of-5 from distance. Gunderson finished with 11 and a game-high six assists, and Placide had 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds. 

Minnesota Morris plays two games at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa this weekend. First is a neutral-site game with Cornell College on Friday night beginning at 6 p.m.