Box Score
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Augustana won its third straight game Saturday night, defeating Elmhurst 80-52 at Carver Center. With the win, the Vikings improve to 18-6 overall and 8-5 in the CCIW and clinch their ninth consecutive conference tournament berth. The Bluejays fall to 13-10 overall and 5-7 in the league.
 
This game had a completely different complexion than the first meeting between the teams, won by Elmhurst 83-74 on January 25. In that game, the Bluejays shot .577 from the floor and .529 from three-point range. However on this night, after making five of its first seven field goal attempts, Elmhurst hit just 13 of 43 the rest of the way – including just one of nine from long range – against a stout defensive effort by Augustana.
 
The Bluejays led early, but Hunter Hill (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) hit his second three-pointer of the game with 15:14 left in the first half to put the Vikings up 11-10 and they wouldn't trail again. The hosts gradually built their lead, with it reaching double figures (25-14) on a Jawan Straughter (Plainfield East HS, Bolingbrook, Ill.) trey with 8:09 left before halftime.
 
After Griffin Pils (Libertyville HS, Libertyville, Ill.) gave Augustana its biggest lead of the first half (32-19) with another three-pointer at the 5:36 mark, Elmhurst Coach John Baines called a timeout. His team responded with a 7-0 run over the next 3:45 to narrow the margin to six, but Mark Roth (Washington HS, Metamora, Ill.) answered with a pair of huge threes in the last 1:48 to push the Viking lead back to 12 (38-26) at halftime.
 
After hitting seven treys in the first half, Augustana went to work in transition and inside in the second. Tayvian Johnson (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) scored 13 of his game-high 19 points after intermission, including a 9-of-11 performance from the free throw line resulting from several strong drives to the basket. Center Kevin Schlitter (Maine South HS, Park Ridge, Ill.) scored 10 of his 12 points in the second stanza.
 
The Bluejays cut the deficit to 10 twice early in the second half, but with Johnson scoring five points and Ben Ryan (Washington HS, Washington, Ill.) four, the Vikings pushed it back to 17 (49-32) with 15:58 to play. A pair of Brandon Motzel (Carmel HS, Buffalo Grove, Ill.) free throws with 10:41 remaining bumped the advantage to 20 at 57-37. It reached 25 (66-41) on a Johnson free throw with 5:37 left and when freshman Jacob Johnston (Erie HS, Cordova, Ill.) nailed the Vikings' only three-pointer of the second half at the 1:06 mark, Augustana had its biggest lead of the night at 80-50.
 
Ryan joined Johnson and Schlitter in double figures with a dozen points. Motzel and Schlitter each grabbed a team-high seven rebounds as the Vikings won the battle of the boards by a 42-36 margin. Pils dished out a game-high four assists. Augustana shot .431 from the floor on 25 of 58, but hit eight of 17 (.471) three-point attempts and 22 of 31 (.710) from the foul line. In addition to holding Elmhurst to 18 of 50 (.360) from the field, the Vikings forced 20 Bluejay turnovers, including 13 in the second half.
 
With a win in its final regular season game at North Park on Saturday, February 22, Augustana can clinch the third seed in the upcoming CCIW tournament. The only program to qualify for the event in each of its nine years, the Vikings are currently tied with Carthage for third in the league standings, but hold the tie-breaker advantage by virtue of two regular season wins over the Red Men.