Box Score

DECATUR, Ill. – Augustana stayed in the hunt for its fourth straight CCIW championship by downing Millikin 83-74 Saturday at the Griswold Center. The 14th-ranked Vikings, who had dropped their last two Saturday tilts, improved to 18-5 on the season and 10-4 in the conference—a half-game behind league-leading Illinois Wesleyan. The Big Blue dropped to 11-12 overall and 4-10 in the conference.
 
Millikin battled back from a couple of deficits before Augustana could finally pull away. The Big Blue outscored the Vikings 17-6 over the last five minutes of the first half, wiping out an eight-point Augustana advantage to lead 42-39 at the break. Then, after falling behind by seven (53-46) in the first six minutes of the second half, they went on a 14-5 spurt to go up 60-58 with 9:21 to play.
 
Senior A.J. Dollmeyer (Polo HS, Polo, Ill.) tied it at 60-all with a pair of free throws and junior Chrishawn Orange's (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) three-pointer at the 8:36 mark gave the Vikings the lead for good. A Zach Fisher bucket pulled the hosts to within one (63-62), but Orange answered with a short jumper and followed that with a steal and a layup and it wouldn't be a one-possession game again.
 
Orange's conventional three-point play with 3:44 remaining gave Augustana its biggest lead (75-66) to that point and the margin reached double digits (81-71) when junior Nolan Ebel (Regis Jesuit HS, Denver, Colo.) hit the second of two free throws with 22 seconds left. A Fisher three and two Ebel charity tosses closed out the scoring.
 
Ebel and junior Brett Benning (Dakota HS, Davis, Ill.) each had 11 points in the first half, helping the Vikings build an early lead. Four Benning free throws finished off a 13-6 run that gave Augustana an eight-point lead (31-23), one that was matched (33-25) at the 5:08 mark on a dunk by sophomore Roman Youngblut (Assumption HS, Davenport, Iowa). However, Elijah Henry scored nine points and Michael Beaty eight, including two three-pointers, as the Big Blue closed the half on a 17-6 run.
 
All five starters scored in double figures for Coach Grey Giovanine's club. Ebel finished with 19. Benning added a career-high 18 and grabbed a team-high six rebounds. Orange had a dozen of his 17 in the second half and senior Dylan Sortillo (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) scored 12 and dished out a game-high six assists. Sophomore center Micah Martin (Iowa City HS, Iowa City, Iowa) finished with 11 points and five rebounds.
 
Henry led the Big Blue with 26 points and seven boards.
 
The Vikings shot .577 in the second half and .527 (29-55) for the game. They also hit seven of 14 (.500) three-point attempts and 18 of 23 (.783) free throw tries. Millikin finished 28 of 54 (.519) from the field, .316 (6-19) from beyond the arc and .750 (12-16) from the foul line. The Big Blue had a 29-28 advantage on the glass, but committed 18 turnovers to 11 for Augustana, resulting in a 26-12 Viking edge in points off turnovers.
 
Giovanine's outfit will be idle while the rest of the CCIW plays on Wednesday, February 14. The Vikings will be back in action on Saturday, February 17, welcoming North Park to Carver Center for a 7:00 p.m. Senior Night contest.