ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Wheaton shot .625 from the field in the second half Friday, including 11 of 23 (.478) from three-point range, to overtake Augustana and post a 93-79 victory in an NCAA Division III Sectional semifinal at Carver Center. The Thunder (22-8) move on to face Marietta on Saturday, March 9 for the sectional title and a trip to the final four. The Vikings' season comes to an end with a 26-4 record.

 

The hosts led 36-30 at the half. They stretched their lead to nine on a three-pointer by Nolan Ebel (Regis Jesuit HS, Denver, Colo.) (39-30) at 18:44 of the second half and again on a Chrishawn Orange (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) bucket (41-32) with 18 minutes remaining.
 
The margin was still seven (44-37) after an Ebel basket at the 16:43 mark, but Augustana would miss its next nine field goal attempts as Wheaton went on a 15-5 run to take a 52-49 lead. The Vikings would pull even at 55-all on an Ebel field goal and again at 57-all on two Joe Kellen (Rockford Lutheran H, Rockford, Ill.) free throws, but an Anajuwon Spencer three-pointer with eight minutes remaining gave the Thunder the lead for good.
 
The margin bounced between two and five for five minutes until Gavin Hawkins hit a three at the 3:03 mark that put Wheaton up 79-73. An Aston Francis trey with 2:11 left extended the margin to nine (82-73) and his two free throws with 1:42 to play pushed it to double digits for the first time at 84-73.
 
On Augustana's next possession, the Thunder's Luke Peters was called for a common foul and a technical, putting Ebel at the line for four free throws. He converted all four to pull the Vikings to within 84-77 and they had a chance to trim the deficit further, but Nyameye Adom blocked an Ebel layup and Luke Anthony's basket at the other end extended the lead back to nine. Francis' layup with 21 seconds left accounted for the final.
 
Spencer started the game with a dunk and a layup, but Augustana tied it at four on Micah Martin's (Iowa City HS, Iowa City, Iowa) second bucket and took a 6-4 lead on a Pierson Wofford (Springfield Lutheran HS, Springfield, Ill.) putback. The Vikings would lead for the rest of the half.
 
A Brett Benning (Dakota HS, Davis, Ill.) three at the 13:02 gave the hosts their biggest margin at 15-6, but Wheaton came back to trim it to one on two occasions. Orange's layup in the final minute put Augustana up 36-28, but Adom hit a runner from the right baseline to send the teams to intermission with the Vikings on top 36-30.
 
Orange finished with 20 points in his school-record 125th and final career game. Ebel led the Vikings with 23 points in his last outing and Benning, whose career also came to an end, finished with 11 points, six rebounds and six assists. Kellen is the fourth member of an Augustana senior class that compiled a 104-21 record during their four years, won four CCIW titles and played in four NCAA Division III Tournaments, reaching at least the round of 16 in each of them. Wofford led the Vikings with nine rebounds.
 
Francis matched his nation-leading season average with 33 points. Spencer added 18 and Anthony 15.
 
Coach Grey Giovanine's crew shot .424 (28-66) from the field, .269 (7-26) from three-point range and .667 (16-24) from the foul line. Wheaton hit 30 of 59 (.508) from the field, 15 of 37 (.405) from beyond the arc and 18 of 20 (.900) at the foul line. The Thunder led 39-34 on the boards and committed just eight turnovers. Augustana turned it over just five times.