Box Score
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Another great all-around effort gave the 13th-ranked Augustana basketball team an 81-56 win over Mount St. Joseph Wednesday night at Carver Center. The Vikings improve to 8-1 on the year, while the Lions fall to 5-4.
 
Five different Augustana players scored in the first 7:16 of the contest as the hosts jumped out to a 19-4 lead. Sophomores Ben Ryan (Washington HS, Washington, Ill.) and Hunter Hill (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) scored six and five points, respectively, and junior Nic Hoepfner (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) added four.
 
Mount St. Joseph's David Mann responded with eight straight Lion points and a three-pointer from Ken Kunkel and an Andy Countryman deuce cut the deficit to seven (24-17) with 9:10 remaining in the opening half. However, Hill answered with his second trey of the night and Augustana's lead would be less than double digits just once more the rest of the night. After two Mann free throws got the Lions to within 31-22, the Vikings closed the period with a 9-5 run – which included another bucket from Hill – and went to the locker room leading 40-27.
 
In the second half, the advantage bounced between 14 and 19 points until a Danielius Jurgutis (Downers Grove South HS, Darien, Ill.) basket with 13:23 left pushed it to 20 at 59-39. Another hoop from Jurgutis, who scored nine in the second half, put the Vikings up 71-45 with eight and a half minutes remaining.
 
At just under the four-minute mark, Coach Grey Giovanine cleared his bench and a baseline jumper by freshman center Michael Hoekstra (Bishop McNamara HS, St. Anne, Ill.) at the 1:46 mark gave the Vikings their biggest lead of the night at 79-50.
 
Defensively, Augustana's main focus was on the Lions' Joel Scudder, who came into the game averaging 21.7 points and shooting .605 from three-point range. Hill and sophomore Jawan Straughter (Plainfield East HS, Bolingbrook, Ill.) helped hold the sharpshooter to just three points on one-of-four shooting from beyond the arc.
 
The Vikings had tremendous balance offensively with six players in double figures and another with eight. Hill led the way with 13, followed by Ryan with a dozen, Jurgutis with 11 and Hoepfner, Kevin Schlitter (Maine South HS, Park Ridge, Ill.) and Tayvian Johnson (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) with 10 each. Junior Mark Roth (Washington HS, Metamora, Ill.) added eight, including a pair of three-pointers. Schlitter (seven), Hoepfner and Johnson (five each) led Augustana to a 36-22 advantage on the boards. Hill and Jurgutis each had three assists and Jurgutis had three of the Vikings' 11 steals, with Hill, Johnson and sophomore Brandon Motzel (Carmel Catholic HS, Buffalo Grove, Ill.) snaring two apiece.
 
As a team Augustana, which came into the game ranked sixth in the nation in field goal percentage and second in three-point percentage, hit 28 of 51 (.549) shots from the floor and five of 13 (.385) three-point attempts. The Vikings also had an outstanding 20-of-23 (.870) performance from the free throw line and turned the ball over just 10 times, including just two after halftime.
 
Mann and Mark Allen led the Lions with 17 and 13 points, respectively.
 
Giovanine's bunch now has nine days off before facing Wisconsin-La Crosse at the Wisconsin Dells on Saturday, December 28. Tipoff at the Just a Game Field House is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Augustana follows that up with a 5:30 p.m. contest at the same facility the following day against UW-Oshkosh to wrap up the non-conference portion of this season's schedule.