Box Score

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. – Senior Dylan Sortillo (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) fueled a hot start with 17 first-half points Friday and third-ranked Augustana rolled to a 74-58 win over Wisconsin-Stevens Point at JustAGame Fieldhouse. Coach Grey Giovanine's Vikings improved to 9-1 on the season, while the Pointers fell to 6-3.
 
A pair of Sortillo three-pointers bookended a 12-0 Augustana run midway through the first half that essentially spelled the difference. Nate Dodge's trey 12:21 before halftime gave UWSP its second and final lead of the night at 14-12, but Sortillo responded with one of his own 13 seconds later. Austin Elledge (Highland HS, Highland, Ill.) and Nolan Ebel (Regis Jesuit HS, Denver, Colo.) sandwiched buckets around a Donovan Ferguson (Downers Grove South HS, Darien, Ill.) dunk before Sortillo capped the spurt with another from beyond the arc that put the Vikings up 24-14 at the 10:03 mark.
 
Pointer Blake Ehrke split a pair of free throws to trim the margin to nine, but Sortillo answered with a deuce and a trey and Augustana's lead wouldn't dip below double digits again. It ballooned to 17 points (36-19) on a Brett Benning (Dakota HS, Davis, Ill.) layup at the five-minute mark and twice more on an A.J. Dollmeyer (Polo HS, Polo, Ill.) layup (38-21) and on Sortillo's fifth three-pointer of the half (41-24). A Matt Koerner trey pulled UWSP to within 43-30 at intermission.
 
The Vikings connected on 17 of 28 (.607) from the field in the opening half, including seven of 12 (.583) from long range. Augustana held Stevens Point to .370 (10-27) from the floor.
 
The Pointers got as close as 11 twice in the first three minutes of the second half, but after Brett Tauber's layup with 17:02 to play made it 45-34, the Vikings went on an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to extend the advantage to 20. Five different Augustana players scored in the spree.
 
Chrishawn Orange's (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) three-pointer with 6:44 to play gave the Vikings their biggest lead of the evening at 69-44. Two Garrett Nelson free throws with 42 seconds to play cut the final margin to 16.
 
Sortillo added a bucket in the second half to finish with a game-high 19 points. He hit seven of 12 from the field, including five of eight from long range. Orange scored a dozen and Ebel added nine while dishing out a game-high six assists. Benning grabbed a game-high six rebounds. Tauber led UWSP with 12 points.
 
Augustana, which won for the seventh time in as many outings at JustAGame Fieldhouse, shot .566 for the game on 30 of 53 from the field, including 10 of 18 (.556) from three-point range. The Vikings went to the free throw line just seven times, making four (.571). The Pointers, who came into the game shooting .458 from three-point range, hit just five of 20 (.250) attempts from deep and 21 of 54 (.389) overall from the floor. They were 11 of 20 (.550) from the foul line.
 
Giovanine's bunch outrebounded UWSP by a margin of 36-29 and committed just eight turnovers, while the Pointers turned it over just nine times.
 
Augustana will close out the 2017 calendar year with a contest at 10th-ranked Washington University on Friday, December 29. The Vikings and Bears are scheduled to tip at 7:00 p.m. at the Washington University Field House in St. Louis, Missouri.