Box Score

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – All five Augustana starters scored in double figures Saturday as the eighth-ranked Vikings claimed their fourth championship in the 10-year history of the CCIW Tournament, defeating Illinois Wesleyan 78-74 at Carver Center. With the victory, Coach Grey Giovanine's squad improves to 23-4 on the season and awaits Monday's NCAA selection show to find out its first-round destination and opponent in the NCAA Division III Tournament. The Titans fall to 19-8 on the year.
 
Hunter Hill (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) scored eight points as the hosts jumped out to a 22-11 lead just over eight minutes in. However, a Trevor Seibring bucket and consecutive three-pointers by Bryce Dolan and Pat Sodemann got IWU right back in the thick of things. Augustana maintained the lead until 5:16 before halftime when Brady Rose tied it at 33-all with a three. A pair of Joel Pennington free throws gave the Titans their first lead, 35-33, but field goals by Hill and Johnson regained the advantage for Giovanine's club.
 
Two Sodemann freebies tied it once more before the Vikings went on a 9-0 run. A Griffin Pils (Libertyville HS, Libertyville, Ill.) three started it and Jawan Straughter (Plainfield East HS, Bolingbrook, Ill.), Tayvian Johnson (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) and Ben Ryan (Washington HS, Washington, Ill.) each had a hoop to extend the lead to 46-37. A Dylan Overstreet field goal cut the Augustana advantage to 46-39 at the break.
 
IWU came back to forge ties at 49-all and 53-all before a Rose three in transition gave the Titans their first lead of the second half, 56-55 with 14:06 to play. They maintained it for much of the next six minutes, until two Pils free throws tied it at 65-all. A conventional three-point play by Straughter put the Vikings up 70-67 at the 5:54 mark.
 
Overstreet's bucket with 3:56 to play tied the game for the ninth and final time (72-all), but again Straughter had an answer. After scoring in the lane to give the Vikings a 74-72 lead, he blocked an Overstreet shot at the other end and was fouled chasing down the rebound. He converted both free throws to put his team up by four. Seibring scored with 29 seconds left to cut the lead in half, but Hill hit two of four free throws in the last 25 seconds as Augustana held IWU at bay.
 
Hill had a game-high 17 points, while Straughter and Pils added 15 apiece, Johnson 14 and Ryan 11. Straughter also led the Vikings with four assists and didn't commit a turnover in 30 minutes on the court. Ryan, Johnson and Nic Hoepfner (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) led the way on the boards with seven, six and six, respectively.
 
For the game, Augustana hit 28 of 55 (.509) field goal attempts, four of 16 (.250) from three-point range and 18 of 21 (.857) from the foul line. The Vikings held a 33-28 edge on the glass and each team turned it over 12 times. Seibring and Overstreet led IWU with 14 points each.