KENOSHA, Wis. – Augustana used a .667 second-half shooting performance Saturday to pull away to an 81-67 win at Carthage. The fourth-ranked Vikings wrapped up the regular season with 23-2 record and finished atop the CCIW standings with the first 15-1 conference mark since 1991. The Red Men finished the season  8-17 overall and 3-13 in the league.

It took a while for Augustana to find its shooting eye. The Vikings hit just five of their first 14 field goal attempts and trailed for much of the first 13½ minutes. A T.J. Best three-pointer with 7:16 left in the first half gave Carthage a 23-19 lead, but the visitors got consecutive Pierson Wofford (Springfield Lutheran HS, Springfield, Ill.) buckets to pull even at the 6:27 mark. Chrishawn Orange (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) sandwiched a pair of field goals around one by Nolan Ebel (Regis Jesuit HS, Denver, Colo.) to complete a 10-0 run that gave Augustana a 29-23 advantage.
 
A Wofford three-pointer from the top of the key extended the Vikings' lead to 34-27 and they matched that seven-point spread on a Roman Youngblut (Assumption HS, Davenport, Iowa) putback (36-29) and a Donovan Ferguson (Downers Grove South HS, Darien, Ill.) dunk (38-31). Wofford's basket at the 1:30 mark completed a stretch of 12 Augustana field goals in 14 attempts and gave the Vikings their biggest lead of the half at 40-31. However, the Red Men got a Jordan Kedrowski three-pointer and a Kienan Baltimore layup to cut the margin to 40-36 at the break.
 
Coach Grey Giovanine's club started the second half with an 11-4 run that pushed the margin to double digits (51-40) for the first time with 16:16 to play. It reached 13 (55-42) on a Youngblut layup at the 14:22 mark and again (58-45) on an Orange three-pointer with 12:33 remaining.
 
Carthage wouldn't go away though, scoring eight straight to get within five at 58-53. The Red Men still trailed by five (60-55) at the midway point of the second half, but two Lucas Simon (Notre Dame HS, Chicago, Ill.) free throws and an Ebel three-pointer bumped the lead back to double digits.
 
Carthage would get as close as seven points, but another Ebel trey with five minutes to play put Augustana up 73-63 and the lead wouldn't drop below double digits again. The final margin of 14 was the biggest of the night.
 
Wofford led the Vikings with 21 points on 10-of-14 shooting. Ebel added 18 points, five rebounds and five assists. Orange, who broke the school record for career games played with his 120th, had 12 points and game highs of eight rebounds and six assists. Youngblut chipped in a career-high 10 points. Baltimore scored a game-high 28 for the Red Men.
 
Augustana converted 28 of its last 39 field goal attempts and finished 34 of 55 (.618) from the field. The Vikings also hit seven of 13 (.538) from beyond the arc, but just six of 12 (.500) free throws. They had a 28-27 edge on the glass and committed just six turnovers. Carthage shot .442 (23-52) from the field, .429 (6-14) from three-point range and .882 (15-17) from the foul line and turned it over 13 times.
 
Giovanine's bunch will play host to the final four of the CCIW Tournament at Carver Center on Friday and Saturday, February 22-23. On Friday, top-seeded Augustana will face the lowest remaining seed after Tuesday's first round in a 7:00 p.m. semifinal.