Box Score

SALEM, Va. – One way or another, the Augustana men's basketball team knew its magical 2014-15 season would come to an end Saturday at the Salem Civic Center. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite in the way the Vikings had hoped.  In the program's third trip to the NCAA Division III title game, Augustana wasn't able to capture that elusive first national championship, falling 70-54 to a red-hot Wisconsin-Stevens Point outfit. Both teams finish the year 27-5, with the Pointers claiming their fourth national championship and Augustana falling to the eventual champ for the 10th time in 14 tournament appearances. The 27 wins tied this year's team for second-most in school history with Coach Grey Giovanine's 2010-11 squad.
 
It was a see-saw affair early, with five ties and eight lead changes in the first 13 minutes. Each team's biggest lead during that time was three points. An Alex Richard layup gave UWSP a 5-2 lead just less than three minutes in. The Vikings got a pair of layups each from juniors Brandon Motzel (Carmel HS, Grayslake, Ill.) and Hunter Hill (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) and took a 12-9 lead at the 11:40 mark of the first half. That proved to be their biggest of the night.
 
Junior Griffin Pils (Libertyville HS, Libertyvile, Ill.) buried a three to give Augustana a 19-17 lead with 9:13 before halftime, but the Pointers responded with 12 straight points over the next six minutes and 13 seconds to go up 29-19. Viking junior Jawan Straughter (Plainfield East HS, Bolingbrook, Ill.) finally broke drought with two free throws. After a three-pointer from Stevens Point's Stephen Pelkofer, Straughter's layup with 1:55 on the clock closed out the scoring for the half as the Pointers led 32-23 at intermission.
 
UWSP's five-of-10 performance from beyond the arc in the opening stanza was just a warm up for what the Pointers did in the second 20 minutes. Getting two each from Pelkofer, Austin Ryf and Jordan Lutz, Coach Bob Semling's squad drilled seven of eight attempts from long range and 14 of 21 from the floor overall in the period.
 
Stevens Point hit four threes in the first 6:06 of the second half to push its advantage to 48-28. Joe Ritchay added a free throw at the 13:05 mark to give the Pointers their biggest lead of the night at 49-28. The Vikings scored 10 straight on threes from Hill and freshman Dylan Sortillo (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa), a layup from junior Ben Ryan (Washington HS, Washington, Ill.) and a pair of Motzel free throws to cut the deficit to 49-38 with 8:41 to play.
 
A conventional three-point play by Ritchay and a Ryf triple extended the margin back to 17, before Augustana put together one final push. The Vikings got a dunk and a layup from junior Tayvian Johnson (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) and six straight points from Hill to whittle the deficit to 57-48 with 4:29 to play. However, the Pointers answered with eight straight, including a three-pointer each from Ryf and Lutz, to put the game away.
 
Augustana finished the game 21 of 44 (.477) from the field, three of 10 (.300) from beyond the arc and nine of 12 (.750) from the foul line. The Vikings outrebounded UWSP 27-21 but committed an uncharacteristic 15 turnovers. Stevens Point connected on 26 of 47 (.553) field goal attempts, including 12 of 18 (.667) from deep and turned the ball over just five times.
 
Individually, Motzel led Augustana with 14 points on six of seven shooting from the field. He also grabbed seven boards and blocked two shots. Hill, an all-tournament selection, was the only other Viking in double figures, with 13. Ryan snared a game-high 10 rebounds. Straughter and Sortillo each had three assists. The Pointers had four players in double figures led by Ryf with 17. Ritchay added 15, Pelkofer 14 and Richard a dozen.