Box Score

CHICAGO, Ill. – As they have so often this year, juniors Chrishawn Orange (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) and Nolan Ebel (Regis Jesuit HS, Denver, Colo.) led the way Saturday as Coach Grey Giovanine's eighth-ranked Augustana Vikings held off a second-half rally by their namesakes from North Park, defeating their hosts 74-60 at the NPU Gymnasium. Augustana improved to 14-3 on the season and 6-2 in the CCIW. North Park fell to 4-12 overall and 1-7 in the league.
 
Augustana led by 11 (43-32) at the half and still held a 55-45 advantage with 11:55 to play, following a Dylan Sortillo (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa)  jumper. However, Matt Szuba, Antonio Gardner and Jack Gurvey hit consecutive three-pointers in a span of little more than a minute to pull NPU to within a point and prompt Giovanine to call timeout.
 
Sortillo stemmed the tide with a trey from the right corner, but North Park trimmed the deficit to two points twice more. Jason Hines' layup with 5:21 to play made it 62-60, but Ebel penetrated for a layup that sparked a 12-0 Augustana run over the last five minutes. As North Park missed its final seven shots, junior Brett Benning (Dakota HS, Davis, Ill.) scored consecutive field goals in the lane, Ebel fed Micah Martin (Iowa City HS, Iowa City, Ill.) for a dunk, a Sortillo steal led to two Orange free throws and Ebel closed out the night's scoring with another layup.
 
The first ten minutes of the game saw two ties and eight lead changes. Ebel's layup at the 10:05 mark finally gave Augustana the lead for good at 21-20 and another extended the advantage to 32-23 7:32 before halftime. The margin reached double digits for the first time on an Orange bucket at the 5:08 mark.
 
After nearly four scoreless minutes, an Aaron Reed three-pointer pulled North Park to within 39-32, but Orange converted a pair from the charity stripe and a Martin dunk gave the visitors a 43-32 edge at intermission.
 
Orange finished the night with a game-high 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Ebel scored 15 and dished out a career-high 11 assists. Sortillo tallied 11 points, as did Martin, who also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Gurvey and Szuba led North Park with 14 and 13 points, respectively. Vergard Tangen added 10. Augustana held Colin Lake, the CCIW's third-leading scorer, to seven points on 3-of-16 shooting from the field.
 
Augustana shot .484 (30-62) from the floor, .353 (6-17) from three-point range and .667 (8-12) from the foul line. Giovanine's crew limited NPU to 19 of 59 (.322) field goals. North Park hit 14 of 41 (.341) attempts from beyond the arc and eight of 10 (.800) free throw tries. Augustana compiled a 48-25 edge on the glass and committed 11 turnovers, while NPU turned it over just seven times.
 
Augustana will begin the second half of the CCIW slate on Wednesday, January 24 at Wheaton. The teams are currently tied for second in the league, but the Thunder defeated the Vikings 86-81 at Carver Center on January 10. Wednesday's tipoff at King Arena is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.