Box Score PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – A slow start was costly on Tuesday, November 19 as Augustana dropped a 67-57 decision at Wisconsin-Platteville. It was the first road game of the 2013-14 season for the Vikings, who opened the campaign on Friday, November 15 with a convincing win at home over the University of Chicago.
 
Augustana never led in the contest and trailed by 17 points on three separate occasions in the first half. After junior Nic Hoepfner (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) tied the game at 2-2 in the first minute of play, UW-Platteville jumped out to a 16-6 advantage before the half-way point of the first half. The first 17 point lead for the hosts came with 5:42 left before intermission when Jim Stocki hit a three point field goal to make it 28-11. UW-Platteville also led by 17 at 4:55 (30-13) and 2:47 (35-18).
 
The Vikings put on a little run just before halftime and closed to within 12 (37-25) at the break after Hoepfner scored the final points of the first 20 minutes.
 
In the second half Augustana came out of the gate with an impressive 19-9 run to cut the margin to 46-44 on a basket by sophomore Tayvian Johnson (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) with 12:34 left in the game. The Vikings finally tied things up on a Johnson layup with 9:46 left that made it 48-48.
 
UW-Platteville never relinquished the lead, however, and a 14-6 run made it 62-54 with 2:16 left after a three point field goal by Eric Gerber. Augustana only managed five points in the final 3:17 of the game in falling for the first time this season.
 
Junior Danielius Jurgutis (Downers Grove South HS, Darien, Ill.) led the Vikings in scoring with 12 points while Hoepfner had 11 and Johnson had 10. Augustana lost the rebounding battle, however, by a margin of 36-26 as Hoepfner led the team with six.
 
Wisconsin-Platteville got 20 points from Jim Stocki, although he only scored three in the second half after tallying 17 by halftime. Jake Manning had 13, Peyton River chipped in with 12 and Gerber had 11.
 
The host Pioneers shot .500 (21-42) from the field but in the first half they hit at an astonishing .632 (12-19) clip. In the second 20 minutes the Augustana defense limited that number to .391 (9-23). Augustana shot .373 (22-59) from the floor and only turned the ball over 10 times.
 
The Vikings will be back in Platteville, Wisconsin on Saturday, November 23 with a neutral site game against St. Olaf at 5:00 p.m.