The first basket of the 2014-15 Augustana men's basketball season came on a Tayvian Johnson (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) dunk just 13 seconds into the Vikings' exhibition opener with Bradley. While it would have been premature to consider that a harbinger of things to come, by the end of the game—which Coach Grey Giovanine's club won 58-56 at Peoria's Carver Arena—fans had a pretty good indication that it could be a special season.
 
Special it was, as Augustana went 27-5—equaling the second-most wins in school history—and won its 14th College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin title and its fourth conference tournament championship in the event's 10-year history. The Vikings extended the postseason all the way to the NCAA Division III championship game in Salem, Virginia, where Wisconsin-Stevens Point finally got the better of Giovanine's squad 70-54. It was Augustana's 14th Division III tournament appearance, its fifth final four trip and the third time the program has reached the title game.
 
The individual honors were many. Giovanine, in his 16th season, was named Basketball Times National Division III Coach of the Year. He also earned CCIW and Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year recognition. Junior point guard Hunter Hill (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) was named the CCIW's Co-Most Outstanding Player, becoming just the fourth Viking ever to earn the award. He was also a first team All-Central Region selection by D3hoops.com and was named to the All-America second teams of D3hoops.com, Basketball Times and the NABC. Junior forward Ben Ryan (Washington HS, Washington, Ill.) was a third team all-region pick and joined Hill on the All-CCIW first team. Classmates Jawan Straughter (Plainfield East HS, Bolingbrook, Ill.) and Johnson were named second and third team all-conference, respectively.
 
After the exhibition win at Bradley, Augustana ventured back on the road to win championships at the Mount St. Joseph Tipoff Classic in Cincinnati, Ohio and  the Thomas More Coach Jim Connor Classic in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. The Vikings extended their winning streak to five games with an 86-61 pasting of Knox in their home opener. Central played a nearly flawless game, including 16 three-pointers, in handing Augustana an 89-78 setback in Pella, Iowa on December 3.
 
Fontbonne paid the price for that loss, as three days later Augustana posted the fourth-highest point total in school history in a 116-62 win.
 
That set the stage for a highly-anticipated matchup with top-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater at Carver Center. The fourth-ranked Vikings got 41 points from Hill and won a classic, 96-94 in double overtime. Hill's performance earned him NCAA Division III National Player of the Week honors from the United States Basketball Writers Association.
 
Augustana won its next eight as well, including its first five CCIW contests, to extend its winning streak to 10 and improve to 15-1. Losses in three of its next five games tightened up the league standings, but proved to be a small bump in the road, as the Vikings started another 10-game winning streak by holding Carthage to one first-half field goal in a 60-29 win at home.
 
An 82-56 win at Illinois Wesleyan, which equaled the worst loss ever by the Titans at Shirk Center, put Augustana back in control of its own CCIW destiny and the Vikings earned the outright title with wins over Millikin (73-65) at home and Wheaton (89-55) on the road. They captured the conference tournament and the league's automatic NCAA bid with wins over North Central (82-76) and Illinois Wesleyan (78-74) at Carver Center.
 
One of just two teams in the 62-team NCAA field to receive a first-round bye, Augustana hosted DePauw in a second-round game. The Vikings fought back from a five-point deficit in the final four minutes, taking the lead on a pair of Straughter free throws with five seconds left and surviving a potential game-tying shot by the Tigers to win 68-66.
 
An 82-69 win over Mount Union in the round of 16 preceded one of the most impressive victories in the history of the program. Facing a 28-2 Marietta team with a trip to the final four on the line, Augustana bolted to a 50-20 halftime lead en route to a 100-51 demolition of the nation's 12th-ranked team. The nets were finally cut down after the final home game of the year, although there may not have been much left after a 13-of-18 Viking performance from three-point range.

Fourth-ranked Babson was the opponent in the national semifinals in Salem. Augustana took a 32-19 lead at the half, but the Beavers came back and led with just over six minutes to play. However, junior Griffin Pils (Libertyville HS, Libertyville, Ill.) and Hill sparked a 22-1 Viking run to end the contest as Augustana advanced to its third national title tilt with a 68-48 win.
 
The next day, Wisconsin-Stevens Point used a 12-of-18 performance from beyond the arc to defeat the Vikings 70-54. The Pointers won their fourth national championship, while Augustana lost to the eventual champion for the 10th time in 14 Division III tournament appearances.
 
Giovanine settled on an all-junior starting lineup of Hill, Ryan, Johnson, Straughter and Pils over the final 15 games. Hill led the Vikings in scoring this year at 15.5 points per game, shooting .460 from the floor, .394 from beyond the arc and a school-record .919 from the foul line. He also led the team in assists (89) and tied for the team lead with 37 steals. His 496 points represent the 14th-highest total in school history and his 148 makes from the free throw line tied for the second-most ever in a season at Augustana. Ryan averaged 11.5 points with team bests of 6.5 rebounds per game and a .588 field goal percentage. Coming off the bench for the most part, senior center Nic Hoepfner (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) averaged 9.1 points on .586 shooting from the floor. Johnson (8.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg, .536 fg%, .739 ft%, 25 blk) tied for the team lead with 37 steals. Pils (7.6 ppg, .866 ft%, 54 ast) led Augustana with a .419 mark from long range and posted the best assist-to-turnover ratio (2.16) of any Viking regular in the Giovanine era. Straughter, the team's defensive stopper, had 31 steals and 10 blocks. He averaged 5.9 points on .519 field goal shooting and was second on the team with 58 assists.
 
The rest of the rotation included junior Brandon Motzel (Carmel HS, Grayslake, Ill.), seniors Danielius Jurgutis (Downers Grove South HS, Darien, Ill.) and Mark Roth (Washington HS, Metamora, Ill.) and freshman Dylan Sortillo (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa). Motzel (6.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, .566 fg%, .735 ft%), who played the entire NCAA tournament with a surgically repaired broken hand, led the team in blocked shots with 36. Jurgutis averaged 5.8 points and shot .345 from three-point range and .833 at the line. Roth hit 29 three's and Sortillo averaged 3.7 points and shot .380 from beyond the arc.
 
This year's senior class, which also included Kevin Schlitter (Maine South HS, Park Ridge, Ill.) and Alex Dziagwa (Riverside-Brookfield HS, Brookfield, Ill.) helped lead Augustana to an 85-28 (.752) record over the last four seasons.
 
Only four players in school history (Bruce Hamming, Mark Brooks, Matt Pelton and John Laing) have played in more games than Jurgutis and Roth, who saw action in 107 each. Roth finished his career fourth in school history with 144 three-point field goals and 16th all-time with a .388 percentage from long range. Jurgutis also finished in Augustana's top 50 all-time in points (777), three-point field goals (69), three-point percentage (.322), free throws made (160), free throw percentage (.780) and assists (132). He also shares the school's single-season record for games played with 32. Hoepfner's .593 career field goal percentage is the second-highest in school history.
 
2014-15 CCIW MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS

TEAM	CCIW	W-L	PCT	Overall	W-L	PCT
AUGUSTANA		11-3	.786		27-5	.844
Illinois Wesleyan		10-4	.714		20-9	.690
Elmhurst		9-5	.643		20-8	.714
North Central		8-6	.571		18-8	.692
North Park		6-8	.429		15-10	.600
Carthage		5-9	.357		10-15	.400
Wheaton		4-10	.286		11-14	.440
Millikin		3-11	.214		8-17	.320

 
2015 CCIW Tournament
Carver Center-Augustana College-Rock Island, Illinois
 
Semifinals—Friday, February 27
(2) Illinois Wesleyan 80, (3) Elmhurst 67
(1) AUGUSTANA 82, (4) North Central 76
 
Championship—Saturday, February 28
(1) AUGUSTANA 78, (2) Illinois Wesleyan 74
 
2014-15 AUGUSTANA SUPERLATIVES
CCIW TOURNAMENT: Won fourth championship in tournament's 10-year history. Only school to qualify for every CCIW tournament.
D3HOOPS.COM NATIONAL RANKING: Ranked in all 15 polls, never lower than 11th. Ranked first for four weeks and second in final poll.
D3HOOPS.COM ALL-AMERICA: Hunter Hill (2nd team)
BASKETBALL TIMES ALL-AMERICA: Hunter Hill (2nd team)
NABC ALL-AMERICA: Hunter Hill (2nd team)
D3HOOPS.COM ALL-CENTRAL REGION: Hunter Hill (1st team); Ben Ryan (3rd team)
CCIW ALL-CONFERENCE: Hunter Hill (1st team—Co-Player of the Year); Ben Ryan (1st team); Jawan Straughter (2nd team); Tayvian Johnson (3rd Team)
CCIW ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE: Jake Gylten, Michael Hoekstra, Jacob Johnston, Brandon Motzel, Ben Ryan.
CCIW TEAM STATISTICAL LEADERS: Scoring Defense—62.1 ppg; Scoring Margin—+12.6 ppg; Rebounding Defense—30.6 rpg.
NCAA TOP TEN TEAM RANKINGS: Field Goal Percentage—.499 (5th); Scoring Margin—+13.5 ppg (10th).
NCAA TOP 25 INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS: Free Throw Percentage—.919, Hunter Hill (3rd); Minutes Played—1015, Hunter Hill (11th); Free Throws Made—148, Hunter Hill (23rd).
SINGLE-SEASON AUGUSTANA TOP TEN: Free Throw Percentage—.919, Hunter Hill (1st); .866, Griffin Pils (10th); Games Played—32, Hunter Hill, Tayvian Johnson, Danielius Jurgutis, Brandon Motzel, Ben Ryan (T-1st); 31, Mark Roth (T-6th); Free Throws Made—148, Hunter Hill (T-2nd); Blocked Shots—36, Brandon Motzel (T-8th); Free Throws Attempted—161, Hunter Hill (T-10th);
CAREER AUGUSTANA TOP TEN: Free Throw Percentage—.891, Hunter Hill (1st); Field Goal Percentage—.593, Nic Hoepfner (2nd); 3-point FG—144, Mark Roth (4th); Games Played—107, Danielius Jurgutis, Mark Roth (T-5th); Rebounds—573, Ben Ryan (8th); Blocked Shots—57, Tayvian Johnson (T-9th); 3-point FG Percentage—.420, Hunter Hill (10th); Blocked Shots Per Game—0.71, Brandon Motzel (10th).
 
2014-15 MEN'S BASKETBALL AWARDS
Varsity MVP: Hunter Hill
Leading Rebounder: Ben Ryan
Outstanding Defender: Jawan Straughter
J.V. MVP: Michael Hoekstra