Box Score CHICAGO, Ill. – Sophomore Jawan Straughter (Plainfield East HS, Bolingbrook, Ill.) scored a career high 16 points as Augustana used a strong second half to defeat North Park 91-61 on Saturday, February 22 in Chicago, Illinois. The victory gave the Vikings a 19-6 overall record and a 9-5 mark in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin heading into the league's tournament this Friday, February 28 in Bloomington, Illinois.
 
In the victory over North Park, the Vikings seemed in control when sophomore Brandon Motzel (Carmel Catholic HS, Buffalo Grove, Ill.) scored with 3:51 left before halftime for a nine point lead (31-22). However, North Park came alive and with 1:06 left a three-point field goal by Ryan Hyrn trimmed the margin to a single point (33-32). Sophomore Hunter Hill (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) drilled a three-point field goal with :46 left and Motzel drained a pair of free throws with 12 seconds remaining to let the Vikings go into the locker room with a six point (38-32) margin.
 
The first three minutes of the second half saw North Park close the gap to three points when Garrett Gatz sank a three-point field goal at the 16:59 mark. It was still three points when T.J. Cobbs hit two free throws 47 seconds later to make it 46-43 in favor of the Vikings. At this point, Straughter asserted himself. He hit a three-point field goal at 15:51 to make it 49-43 and after North Park's Nate Rummel scored a basket to make it 49-45 with 15:20 left, Straughter came up with a steal and a free throw to push the advantage to 50-45 at 15:00.
 
That sparked a 21-9 run over the next nine-plus minutes and when sophomore Tayvian Johnson (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) scored with 5:46 left the lead had ballooned to 17 (71-54). The Vikings didn't let up and finished the game on a 19-8 run. Augustana outscored the home team 53-29 in the second half and over the final 16:12 the run was 45-18.
 
Straughter, who came into the contest averaging less than five points per game, connected on five of seven from the field, including three of four from three-point range and was perfect on three free throws. He had two assists, three rebounds and a steal.
 
He was joined in double figures by Hill with 14, Johnson with 13 and Motzel with 10. The Vikings shot .564 (31-55) for the game and hit at a .645 (20-31) clip in the second half. They were 8-16 (.500) from three point range and won the rebounding battle 34-30 with Motzel and junior Nic Hoepfner (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) each pulling down five.
 
The Augustana defense limited North Park to just .347 (17-49) from the floor, including .263 (5-19) from three point range. Cobbs led North Park in scoring with 14 points.
 
The Vikings are now in the CCIW tournament for an unprecedented ninth straight season. Augustana will play Wheaton (17-8 & 10-4) in one semi-final while Illinois Wesleyan (22-3 & 12-2) will host Carthage (16-9 & 9-5) in the other. The winners will meet on Saturday, March 1 in Bloomington to determine the CCIW's automatic berth in the NCAA Division III national tournament.