Box Score

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Augustana led nearly wire-to-wire against Illinois Wesleyan Wednesday and used tremendous second-half shooting to withstand a late barrage of Titan three-pointers, downing IWU 88-79 at Carver Center. The ninth-ranked Vikings improved to 16-4 overall and 8-3 in the CCIW, while 14th-ranked and league-leading Illinois Wesleyan fell to 16-4 on the season and 9-2 in the conference.
 
The only tie of the night occurred at 5-all and Augustana led by as many as 14 in the first half. The Vikings were still up 41-28 with two minutes left, but the visitors closed the period on a 7-0 run, including a Colin Bonnett three-pointer that beat the halftime buzzer and pulled the Titans to within 41-35 at the break.
 
There were 29 fouls called in the first 20 minutes and a total of 38 free throws attempted.
 
A Brady Rose bucket to open the second half extended the IWU run to 9-0 before Nolan Ebel (Regis Jesuit HS, Denver, Colo.) fed A.J. Dollmeyer (Polo HS, Polo, Ill.) for a layup that gave Augustana a 43-37 lead. The advantage eventually reached 10 on two occasions—first (52-42) on a conventional three-point play by Micah Martin (Iowa City HS, Iowa City, Iowa) and again (54-44) on a Joe Kellen (Rockford Lutheran HS, Rockford, Ill.) jumper. However, Wesleyan answered with four straight and the margin would be under double digits the rest of the way.
 
The Titans cut it to 61-60 with 6:38 to play, but Dylan Sortillo (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) scored 11 straight Viking points on three three-pointers and a pair of free throws. Meanwhile, Bonnett knocked down two treys of his own and Rose a pair of free throws to keep it tight at 72-70 with 4:11 left.
 
Over the next minute and a half, the hosts went on an 8-2 run to go up 80-72. On the Titans' offensive end, Bonnett missed a three attempt from the left wing, but Sortillo was called for a foul on the play and compounded the mistake by being hit with a technical. Rose hit one of two technical free throws and Bonnett all three of his to cut the deficit to 80-76. After a Wesleyan defensive stop, Bonnett drained his fourth three-pointer of the night and IWU's fifth in a row to make it 80-79 with 1:55 to play.
 
After an empty trip by each team, Bonnett fouled Ebel, who converted both charity tosses for an 82-79 Augustana lead. Another Viking stop and two more Ebel free throws at the 38-second mark provided a little more breathing room and Chrishawn Orange (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) buried four straight from the line in the final 22 seconds to ice the win.
 
The Vikings shot .510 for the game on 25 of 51 from the field. They hit seven of 13 (.538) three-point attempts and 29 of 37 (.784) free throw tries. The numbers in the second half were a blistering .652 (15-23) from the field, .800 (4-5) from beyond the arc and .929 (13-14) from the foul line. Illinois Wesleyan finished the night 25 of 60 (.417) from the floor, eight of 22 (.364) from long range and 21 of 31 (.677) from the free throw line. Augustana won the battle of the boards 39-30 and committed 13 turnovers to 11 for the Titans.
 
Sortillo and Ebel shared game-high scoring honors with Bonnett. Each tallied 21. Ebel also had a game-high seven assists. Orange added 14 points, six rebounds and four assists and Brett Benning (Dakota HS, Davis, Ill.) came off the bench for a dozen points and six rebounds. Martin and freshman Carson Frakes (Rockridge HS, Illinois City, Ill.) also shared game-high honors with six rebounds each.
 
Coach Grey Giovanine's club travels to Waukesha, Wisconsin on Saturday, February 3 to face Carroll. Tipoff at Van Male Field House is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.