Box Score

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Augustana put seven players in double figures and posted the fourth-highest scoring total in school history Saturday, defeating Fontbonne 116-62 at Carver Center. The Vikings—currently ranked first in the nation—improve to 6-1 on the year heading into a showdown with Wisconsin-Whitewater—currently ranked third—on Wednesday, December 10. The Griffins had a two-game winning streak snapped and fell to 2-5 on the year.
 
Six different players scored as Augustana bolted to a 17-0 lead less than four minutes in. The Vikings also forced eight turnovers during that stretch, while allowing Fontbonne just a single field goal attempt. A pair of Greg Gentry free throws finally got the Griffins on the board at the 15:30 mark of the first half.
 
A Brandon Motzel (Carmel HS, Buffalo Grove, Ill.) basket with 14:12 left pushed the margin over 20 for the first time at 25-4 and a three-pointer from freshman Dylan Sortillo (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) at the 12:40 mark gave Augustana its largest lead of the opening stanza at 32-5. A Ben Ryan (Washington HS, Washington, Ill.) bucket with 10:28 left and a Jake Gylten (Iowa City West HS, North Liberty, Ill.) hoop 24 seconds before halftime each matched that 27-point margin. Sortillo matched it again with a baseline buzzer-beater as the hosts took a 60-33 lead to the locker room at the half.
 
The advantage continued to grow in the second half, reaching 88-45 on a Danielius Jurgutis (Downers Grove South HS, Darien, Ill.) jumper with 12:06 remaining. The last Viking starter on the floor, senior Nic Hoepfner (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) checked out for good with 11:25 left to play and Coach Grey Giovanine had cleared his bench before the eight-minute mark.
 
A Jacob Johnston (Erie HS, Cordova, Ill.) three-pointer with 6:26 to play pushed the Vikings over the century mark and one by junior Jake Norcia (Highland Park HS, Highland Park, Ill.) with 49 seconds left gave Augustana its biggest lead of the night and accounted for the final score.
 
Jurgutis led the way with 15 points. Hoepfner and Sortillo each had 13 and Tayvian Johnson (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) a dozen. Motzel had 11, to go with a game-high five rebounds, and Ryan and Hunter Hill (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) reached double figures as well with 10 apiece. Ryan also contributed a game-high five assists.
 
The Vikings finished the night 48 of 77 (.623) from the field, 11 of 21 (.524) from three-point range and nine of 15 (.600) from the foul line. They dished out 25 assists while committing just eight turnovers and had a 39-27 advantage on the boards. They held Fontbonne to .393 (22 of 56) field goal shooting and forced 24 Griffin turnovers.
 
The 116 points were the most for an Augustana team since setting a school-record in a 142-78 win at Mt. St. Clare (now Ashford) on November 19, 1990. The other higher scoring games in school history came against Carroll in 1971-72 (W, 122-96) and against Wheaton (W, 121-67) in 1985-86.
 
Up next for the Vikings is Wednesday's showdown with reigning national champion UW-Whitewater at Carver Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.