Hamline (7-12, 5-9 in the MIAC) trailed 37-33 at the break, but opened the second half on a 17-5 spurt. Aukes tallied six points and hauled in three rebounds during the run that lasted 3:54. Junior Ayan Hargrove added all six of his points in the span.
The Piper lead grew to as many as 11 points with 6:08 left before St. Olaf (7-13-3-12) scored the next eight points to make the score 61-58 with 1:50 remaining. Ole Will Johnson scored all eight of the St. Olaf points.
St. Olaf had a couple chances to tie the game, but Steve Banick and Andy Grimsrud each missed threes on their next possession. Junior guard Jesse Hendricks then iced the game for Hamline hitting 1 of 2 from the free throw line. St. Olaf added a bucket in the closing seconds for the final tally.
Aukes kept the Pipers close throughout the first half, scoring 11 points, but Ole reserve Andy Grimsrud totaled 15 points in the first 20 minutes to give St. Olaf a 37-33 lead.
Hamline shot 35 percent in the game (21-60) while the Oles shot 37 percent (23-63). The Pipers made up for their shooting woes on the boards where they outrebounded the Oles 53-34. Besides Aukes' 19, senior center Paul Muenchow grabbed 10 boards.
Hendricks totaled 14 points for the Pipers. Sophomore point guard Sam Wiener added 10 points, six assists, and four steals.
Grimsrud led the Oles with 15 points. Johnson was the only other St. Olaf player in double figures with 14.