Box Score

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Top-ranked Augustana held Elmhurst to four first-half field goals Saturday in a 69-53 victory in the championship game of the CCIW Tournament at Carver Center. The Vikings also forced 17 Bluejay turnovers in the first 20 minutes on their way to a 39-19 halftime lead. Coach Grey Giovanine's club moved to 26-1 on the year and claimed its fifth title in the 11-year history of the event and its second in a row. 17th-ranked Elmhurst dropped to 21-6 on the season.
 
Bluejay Pat Coleman and Augustana's Brandon Motzel (Carmel HS, Buffalo Grove, Ill.) traded two free throws each to start the contest. Those were the only points of the first three minutes, as the teams combined to miss their first seven shots from the floor. Elmhurst's Will Nixon scored in the lane to give his team a 4-2 lead at the 16:59 mark, but those would be the last Bluejay points for nearly 10 minutes.
 
Tayvian Johnson (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) scored off a Jawan Straughter (Plainfield East HS, Bolingbrook, Ill.) assist to tie it at four-all and kick start an eight-and-a-half minute, 21-0 Viking run. Johnson tallied Augustana's first three field goals before freshman Chrishawn Orange (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) dropped in a jumper. By the time the under-eight minute media timeout came, the hosts led 23-4. Seven different Vikings scored during the run and Elmhurst coughed it up 11 times.
 
A conventional three-point play by Coleman stemmed the tide and sparked a Bluejay surge that saw the visitors trim the deficit to 12, but Augustana closed the half on an 11-3 spurt that pushed the margin to 20 for the first time at the half.
 
Straughter and Griffin Pils (Libertyville HS, Libertyville, Ill.) drained three-pointers on the Vikings' first two possessions of the second half to extend the lead to 45-21 with 17:45 to play.
 
Ben Ryan (Washington HS, Washington, Ill.) scored at the 15:21 mark to give Augustana its biggest lead of the night at 51-23. A pair of Jake Gylten (Iowa City West HS, North Liberty, Iowa) free throws two and a half minutes later equaled that 28-point margin (53-25) and a Motzel three-point play with 8:40 left matched it at 60-32.
 
Motzel and Hunter Hill (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) were the only Vikings in double figures with 11 points each. Motzel also tied freshman Pierson Wofford (Springfield Lutheran HS, Springfield, Ill.) with a team-high six rebounds and led Augustana with three steals. Wofford added nine points and two steals and Straughter finished with eight points and a team-high five assists, while spearheading the Viking defense. Coleman led Elmhurst with 11 points.
 
Augustana limited the Bluejays to .326 (14-43) shooting from the floor, including just .067 (1-15) from beyond the arc, and forced 23 turnovers. The Vikings weathered their second-worst shooting night of the season, hitting just 22 of 59 (.373) from the field and four of 19 (.211) from three-point range.
 
With the CCIW's automatic NCAA Division III Tournament berth in hand, Augustana awaits the Monday, February 29, selection show to find out its opponent and the location of next weekend's first and second round games. The college will host a get-together, open to the public, at the Olin Center auditorium to watch the selection show, scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. Elmhurst could be in line for an at-large bid as well.