Box Score

WAUKESHA, Wis. – Carroll took the lead for good with five and a half minutes to play in the first half Saturday and went on to post a 77-69 win over ninth-ranked Augustana at Van Male Field House. The loss dropped Coach Grey Giovanine's Vikings to 16-5 on the season and 8-4 in the CCIW. The host Pioneers won their third in a row to improve to 8-12 overall and 4-7 in the conference.
 
Nolan Ebel (Regis Jesuit HS, Denver, Colo.) hit a three-pointer and a field goal right out of the gate to give the visitors a 5-0 advantage. Carroll answered with seven straight points, including five by Tyler Ingebrigtsen, to take the lead.
 
There would be six more lead changes before Charlie Soule converted two free throws with 5:31 that put the Pioneers on top 24-23. They wouldn't trail again. Joel Heesch's basket with 1:17 to play before halftime gave the hosts their biggest lead of the period at 35-29. Two Chrishawn Orange (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) eventually cut the deficit to 35-33 at the break.
 
On two occasions early in the second half, the Vikings pulled to within a point. A.J. Dollmeyer's (Polo HS, Polo, Ill.) bucket with 19:10 to play made it 38-37 and after a Carroll basket, Brett Benning (Dakota HS, Davis, Ill.) scored off a Dylan Sortillo (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) assist to make it 40-39.
 
The Pioneers answered with six straight, however, and Augustana would get no closer than four the rest of the way. An Ingebrigtsen field goal with 4:26 to play gave Carroll its biggest lead of the night at 65-53. The Vikings eventually cut it to five (71-66) on a short Orange jumper and four (73-69) on three Ebel free throws, but on both ensuing inbounds plays, Zaeske got behind the Augustana defense for easy layups. His two free throws with nine seconds left accounted for the final.
 
The Vikings shot 26 of 55 (.473) from the field, but hit just four of 19 (.211) three-point attempts. They were perfect from the charity stripe, but went to the line just 13 times. Carroll shot .471 on 24 of 51 from the floor. The Pioneers hit .429 (6-14) from three-point range and 23 of 32 (.719) free throws and controlled the boards by a margin of 35-26. Each team committed 13 turnovers.
 
Ebel finished with a game-high 22 points. Orange added 16 and Benning 10. Junior Joe Kellen (Rockford Lutheran HS, Rockford, Ill.) came off the bench for seven points and a game-high three steals. Freshman Carson Frakes (Rockridge HS, Illinois City, Ill.) and Dollmeyer shared the team rebounding lead with five each and Sortillo had a team-high five assists. Zaeske led Carroll with 19 points. Kyle Maupin and Heesch had game highs of eight rebounds and 10 assists, respectively.
 
Giovanine's club will play the second of three straight road games on Wednesday, February 7, when it travels to Naperville, Illinois to take on North Central with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m.