Box Score

WHEATON, Ill. – Sophomore Chrishawn Orange (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) scored a game-high 21 points Wednesday and came up with a game-clinching steal with five seconds left, lifting Augustana to a 59-57 win at Wheaton. The Vikings won for the ninth time in the last ten outings to improve to 16-4 overall and 9-2 in the CCIW—currently atop the standings by a half-game. The host Thunder fell to 8-11 on the season and 4-6 in the conference.
 
An Aston Francis three-pointer with 1:13 to play pulled Wheaton to within a point at 58-57. The teams then traded empty possessions when Ricky Samuelson blocked an Orange layup and senior Jacob Johnston (Erie HS, Cordova HS) came up with a steal for Augustana at the 38-second mark. The Vikings ran the shot clock down, but were unable to pull the trigger before it expired with 7.2 seconds on the game clock.
 
After a timeout, the Thunder inbounded to Francis, but Orange poked the ball away near half court and gained possession, forcing Luke Peters to foul with 1.6 seconds remaining. Orange hit the first free throw to put Augustana up 59-57, but his second bounced off the front iron. Wheaton rebounded and called timeout with 1.3 seconds left, but the Thunder's attempt to free up Francis for a game-winning three at the buzzer failed.
 
With the exception of a Micah Martin (Iowa City HS, Iowa City, Iowa) layup that gave the visitors a 2-0 lead and a Joe Kellen (Rockford Lutheran HS, Rockford, Ill.) three-pointer that tied the score at 18-all, Wheaton led for the first 28 minutes of the contest. The hosts' biggest lead of the night was eight points twice early on. After Kellen tied it with 5:03 left in the half, the Thunder responded by pushing the margin back to seven (32-25) before a pair of Orange free throws with a second left cut the deficit to 32-27 at the half.
 
Wheaton bumped its advantage back to seven points on three occasions early in the second half and the margin was still five (40-35) with 13 and a half minutes to play. However, a conventional three-point play by Orange sparked a 17-4 Viking run over the next six minutes.  A Brett Benning (Dakota HS, Davis, Ill.) bucket gave Augustana its first lead (42-40) since the 18:40 mark of the first half and Orange capped the spurt with another old-fashioned three-point play that gave Coach Grey Giovanine's club its biggest lead of the night, 52-44 with 7:51 left.
 
The Thunder chipped away, however. A Jay Spencer tip-in at the 3:33 mark drew them to within 56-54. Orange answered with a layup at 2:45, but Francis' three got his team within a point and set the stage for the exciting final minute.
 
Orange's game-high 21 points came on 7-of-9 shooting from both the field and the free throw line. His four steals were also a game high. Junior Dylan Sortillo (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) added 13 points and seven boards and Benning came off the bench for nine points and six rebounds. Johnston had a rough shooting night, but led the Vikings with eight boards. Francis tallied 19 points for Wheaton, about six under his league-leading average.
 
Both teams struggled through difficult shooting nights. Augustana hit 22 of 61 (.361) from the field, three of 11 (.273) from beyond the arc and 12 of 19 (.632) from the foul line. The Thunder shot .339 from the floor on 19 of 56, including just four of 19 (.211) from three-point range. They did convert 15 of 18 (.833) free throw attempts. Wheaton won the battle of the boards 45-36, but committed 14 turnovers, to just nine for the Vikings.
 
Augustana will try to maintain its CCIW lead when Millikin visits Carver Center on Saturday, February 4. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.