Box Score

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. - Carthage jumped in front early Saturday and led nearly wire-to-wire in downing fifth-ranked Augustana 81-78 at Carver Center. The Vikings dropped to 15-4 on the season and 7-3 in the CCIW, while the Red Men improved to 11-7 overall and 6-3 in the conference.
 
Augustana led 4-3 after Nolan Ebel (Regis Jesuit HS, Denver, Colo.) and Chrishawn Orange (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) sandwiched baskets around a three-pointer by Carthage's Kamal Shasi, but when Brad Perry answered with a bucket in the lane, the Vikings wouldn't lead again for more than 30 minutes of play.
 
Orange hit a three-pointer to forge a seven-all tie, but Brad Kruse scored for Carthage to spark a 17-5 run. Another Kruse layup with 11:57 to play in the half gave the Red Men their biggest advantage of the evening at 24-12.
 
An Ebel three-pointer started a Viking rally and they eventually trimmed the deficit to two points on two occasions—both on Dylan Sortillo (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) field goals. The second made it 31-29, but Sean Johnson's putback with 27 seconds left gave Carthage a 33-29 lead at intermission. After the Red Men hit eight of their first ten field goal attempts, Augustana limited them to three-of-16 shooting the rest of the half.
 
The Vikings stayed within striking distance early in the second stanza, making it a one-possession game on nine separate occasions in the first 12 minutes. Finally, with 7:54 to play, Sortillo drilled a three-pointer from the right wing to pull his team even at 56-all—the first tie in almost 30 minutes of play. On the next trip down, Orange drained a trey from the left side to put the hosts on top (59-56) for the first time since 4-3.
 
Kienan Baltimore pulled the Red Men to within a point with a pair of free throws and after an Augustana turnover, Derek Mason hit from long range to make it 61-59. Ebel scored just inside five minutes to tie it one last time, but Perry hit a jump hook and Mason buried another three and Carthage had the lead for good.
 
The Red Men eventually built the advantage to 78-71 with 20 seconds left. Sortillo hit a three with 2.2 seconds remaining to get the Vikings to within 81-78, but Jordan Thomas outjumped Ebel for the long inbounds pass and ran out the clock.
 
Augustana shot .500 from the field on 29 of 58 attempts and hit seven of 16 (.438) three-point tries, but was just 13 of 21 (.619) from the foul line. Carthage hit 25 of 57 (.439) from the field, but eight of 16 (.500) from beyond the arc and 23 of 26 (.885) from the charity strip. The Vikings were battered 39-28 on the boards and committed nine turnovers to 10 for the visitors.
 
Ebel, Orange and Sortillo again led the way. Ebel finished with 19 points, a team-high seven rebounds and a game-high five assists. Orange scored 19 as well and Sortillo had 16 on 6-of-9 field goal and 4-of-6 three-point shooting. Senior A.J. Dollmeyer (Polo HS, Polo, Ill.) provided a spark off the bench with eight points and four rebounds. Micah Martin (Iowa City HS, Iowa City, Iowa) blocked five shots. Kruse led four Red men in double figures with a game-high 20 points.
 
Augustana faces a big test on Wednesday, January 31, when league leading Illinois Wesleyan (16-3; 9-1) visits Carver Center with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m.