Box Score

WHITEWATER, Wis. – Just 24 hours after D3hoops.com made Augustana a unanimous number one in the first NCAA Division III ranking of the year, the Vikings went on the road and destroyed 23^rd ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater 75-55 on Wednesday, December 2.  Augustana head coach Grey Giovanine, who watched his team play a near-perfect second half, moved into a first place tie with Jim Borcherding for the most coaching victories in the school's long and storied history of men's basketball.
 
With the win, Giovanine moved to 314-121 in this, his 17^th season at the Viking helm. He ties Borcherding, who was 314-99 from 1969-84, a span of 15 seasons. And, as has been the case so many times in Giovanine's career, his team did it with an exquisite display of defense, especially in the second half.
 
The game was close throughout the first 20 minutes and UW-Whitewater led 29-28 at intermission. The second half, however, belonged to the visitors as they held the Warhawks to just eight field goals in 26 attempts (.308). In the meantime, the offense was sizzling to the tune of .680 (17-25) in the final 20 minutes as the Vikings continually pulled away and at one time (3:14 left) led by as many as 25 points (75-50).
 
Down by a point at halftime, Vikings took the lead for good on a basket by senior Tayvian Johnson (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) less than two minutes into play (18:41). Senior Ben Ryan (Washington HS, Washington, Ill.) added a basket at 17:19 and then a free throw at 15:57 to make it a four point game (33-29).
 
In the first 10 minutes of the second half Augustana outscored UW-Whitewater 20-9 and led by 10 (48-38) at exactly 10:00 when junior Jacob Johnston (Erie HS, Cordova, Ill.) made a basket off a Ryan assist. A three point field goal and a two-pointer from senior Griffin Pils (Libertyville HS, Libertyville, Ill.), who would finish with 18 points, made it 53-38 with 8:01 to play.
 
The margin continued to grow and when Johnson scored with 3:14 left the lead had ballooned to 25 (75-50).
 
Pils had a tremendous night as he connected on seven of eight shots from the floor, including all four of his three point attempts, to finish with 18 points. He added five rebounds and a pair of assists. Ryan matched Pils for game-high scoring honors with 18 and he grabbed six rebounds and had four assists. Johnson was also in double figures with 13 points and he led his team in rebounding with 10. Senior Brandon Motzel (Carmel Catholic HS, Buffalo Grove, Ill.) added eight points and four rebounds.
 
Augustana won the battle of the boards by a healthy 43-31 margin and ended up shooting .537 (29-54) from the field for the game.
 
Wisconsin-Whitewater, which got 14 points from Ethan Guske and 13 points and 10 rebounds out of Trinson White, was able to shoot just .316 (18-57) from the field as the Viking defense never let up.
 
Augustana now heads back to the Carver Center for a non-conference game on Saturday, December 5 against seventh ranked Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The Pointers defeated the Vikings in the NCAA Division III national championship game last March in Salem, Virginia. Tip-off for the contest is set for 7:00 p.m.