ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Augustana had its best shooting night of the season and held Loras 35 points below its season average Wednesday night, downing the Duhawks 88-59 at Carver Center. The Vikings improved to 3-1 on the season, while Loras suffered its first setback after three victories.
 
Coach Grey Giovanine's squad broke the game open early, going on a 20-0 run over a span of six minutes. Sophomore Justin Bottorff (Quincy Notre Dame HS, Quincy, Ill.) hit a pair of three-pointers in the spree and senior Lucas Simon (Notre Dame HS, Chicago, Ill.) capped it with a steal and layup that put the hosts up 22-2 with 12:31 left in the first half.
 
Rowan McGowen hit two treys as Loras went on a 12-4 run to cut the deficit to 26-14 at the seven-minute mark, but two straight buckets by Simon and three in a row by senior Micah Martin (Iowa City HS, Iowa City, Iowa) quickly built the margin back to 36-16. A steal by freshman Jack McDonald (Geneva HS, Geneva, Ill.) led to a Jarrett Tribble (Homewood-Flossmoor HS, Homewood, Ill.) layup that gave the Vikings their biggest lead of the half at 38-16. They took that 22-point margin to the halftime break (43-21) after two Pierson Wofford (Springfield Lutheran HS, Springfield, Ill.) free throws.
 
Augustana had six steals and three blocked shots in the first half and Viking bigs Martin and Roman Youngblut (Assumption HS, Davenport, Iowa) altered numerous other attempts, limiting the Duhawks to .192 shooting for the half. Loras came into the game shooting .534 from the field.
 
Augustana extended the advantage to 50-25 on a Jacob Pauley (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) three-pointer with 16:45 to play, but the Duhawks outscored their hosts 17-5 over the next five minutes to pull to within 55-42 on an Ocean Johnson layup.
 
Once again, the Vikings had an answer. Junior Jack Jelen (Bay HS, Bay Village, Ohio) and Pauley hit treys and Wofford had a conventional three-point play in an 11-0 run that pushed the advantage back to 66-42. After two Loras free throws, Jelen dropped in another one from downtown to match Augustana's biggest lead (69-44) to that point.
 
The margin wouldn't dip under 21 points the rest of the night and a 10-2 run to end the game—mostly by Giovanine's deep reserves—made the final spread the biggest of the contest.
 
Wofford missed just one shot all evening (his last, which was blocked) on his way to a game-high 23 points. He also grabbed six rebounds. Martin continued his outstanding play with 14 points, nine boards and two blocked shots. Pauley added a dozen points and Tribble 11. Simon finished with six points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals and Jelen and McDonald each dished out six of the Vikings' 23 assists.
 
J.T. Ford led Loras with nine points. Augustana limited the Duhawks' three leading scorers—McGowen, Cole Navigato and Jordan Boyd, who came in averaging 52.3 points per game between them—to a total of just 16.
 
The Vikings finished the night 32 of 53 (.604) from the field, including nine of 16 (.563) from beyond the arc. They were 15 of 21 (.714) from the foul line. Loras shot .306 from the floor on 19 of 62.The Duhawks hit five of 20 (.250) three-point attempts and 16 of 27 (.593) from the free throw line. Augustana had a 44-30 edge on the boards and forced 18 turnovers to help overcome 24 of their own.
 
Giovanine's crew is back in action at Carver Center on Tuesday, November 26 versus Wisconsin-Whitewater. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.