Box Score

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Augustana shot .607 from the field and forced 11 Illinois Wesleyan turnovers in the second half Wednesday, pulling away for a 92-77 win at Carver Center. The Vikings improved to 11-3 overall and climbed into a tie for the CCIW lead at 4-1. The 22nd-ranked Titans dropped to 11-4 on the season and 3-3 in the league.
 
Coach Grey Giovanine's squad was nursing a 39-38 lead as the second half started. After a missed IWU three-pointer, sophomore Nolan Ebel (Regis Jesuit HS, Denver, Colo.) scored to spark an 8-0 Augustana run to start the period. Freshman Micah Martin (Iowa City HS, Iowa City, Iowa) scored following a Jacob Johnston (Erie HS, Cordova, Ill.) steal and added a pair of free throws after a steal by Ebel. After another Titan turnover, Johnston missed a dunk, but junior Dylan Sortillo (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) was there to follow it up and give Augustana a 47-38 lead with 17:42 left.
 
IWU trimmed the deficit to four (51-47) with 15:00 to play, but sophomore Chrishawn Orange (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) scored 14 of 19 Augustana points in a seven-minute stretch as the Vikings extended the lead to 66-53 with 9:45 to play. Orange's spurt included a pair of conventional three-point plays.
 
Eight points was as close as the visitors would get the rest of the way and Augustana hit its final five free throws in the last 48 seconds to pull away.
 
The first half was nip-and-tuck, with seven ties and four lead changes. Johnston's three-pointer two and a half minutes in gave the hosts their biggest lead of the period at 10-5. IWU rallied to tie it at 14-all on an Alec Bausch three-pointer and the Titans took their first lead (19-18) since 3-2 on a Brady Rose free throw at the 11:31 mark.
 
With the score tied at 23-all, the Vikings committed consecutive turnovers that each led to a Nick Coleman three-pointer. That gave IWU its largest lead of the night at 29-23 with 9:06 to play before halftime. However, Augustana answered with a 14-4 run, capped by an Orange three-pointer that made it 37-33 Vikings. After Rose and junior A.J. Dollmeyer (Polo HS, Polo, Ill.) traded baskets, IWU's Jaylen Beasley hit a three-pointer with two seconds left to draw the Titans to within 39-38 at the break.
 
Orange finished with game highs of 19 points and three steals. He shot six of nine from the field and grabbed five rebounds as well. Sophomore Pierson Wofford (Springfield Lutheran HS, Springfield, Ill.) contributed 16 points and six rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench and Sortillo was in doubles figures also, with 15 points. Martin had his best game as a Viking, with seven points, four rebounds and six blocked shots, five of which came in the first half. Rose led three Titans in double figures with 16 points.
 
For the game, Giovanine's bunch hit 33 of 58 (.569) from the floor and five of 14 (.357) from beyond the arc, but an uncharacteristic 21 of 31 (.677) from the foul line. IWU shot .426 (26-62) from the field. The Titans hit .360 (9-25) from three-point range, but were just four of 16 (.250) in the second half. They converted 16 of 22 (.727) free throw attempts. Augustana won the battle of the boards by a 40-27 margin and committed 15 turnovers, while forcing 14.
 
Next up for the Vikings is a home date Saturday, January 14 against Carroll (8-6 overall and 3-2 in the league). Augustana takes on the Pioneers in CCIW action for the first time since 1992, with tipoff at Carver Center scheduled for 7:00 p.m.