Vikings finish 26-4; capture unprecedented fifth straight CCIW title; finish fourth in the D3hoops Top 25; Nolan Ebel earns All-America honors; Chrishawn Orange sets career records for games played and wins played in
 
Coach Grey Giovanine's Augustana basketball program enjoyed another tremendous season in 2018-19.The Vikings stormed to their fifth consecutive CCIW championship—a first in the 73-year history of the league—and finished the year 26-4. They made the program's sixth straight NCAA Division III Tournament appearance and its fifth consecutive trip to the round of 16. With a final ranking of fourth in the D3hoops.com Top 25, Augustana became the first school to record five straight top-five finishes since the poll's inception in 1999-2000. This year's senior class helped forge a 104-21 record over four years, including 51-11 in CCIW and 13-4 in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Senior guards Nolan Ebel (Regis Jesuit HS, Denver, Colo.) and Chrishawn Orange (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) repeated as first team All-CCIW selections and were named first and second team All-Central Region, respectively, by D3hoops. In addition, Ebel was named first team All-District by the NABC and second team All-America by D3hoops. He played his final collegiate contest at the Reese's NABC Division III College All-Star Game in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he was the leading scorer (19) and rebounder (14).
 
Joining the backcourt duo on the All-CCIW first team was junior forward Pierson Wofford (Springfield Lutheran HS, Springfield, Ill.), while senior forward Brett Benning (Dakota HS, Dakota, Ill.) was named to the second team.
 
Giovanine reaped impressive accolades as well, earning CCIW Coach of the Year honors for the ninth time and being named NCAA Division III Coach of the Year by Basketball Times. This was Giovanine's third national Coach of the Year award. Basketball Times honored him in 2015 and he was D3hoop.com's choice in 2017.
 
Prior to the official opening of the season, the Vikings played a pair of exhibition contests. They defeated St. Ambrose 71-51 in the inaugural Genesis Collegiate Challenge at the TaxSlayer Center in Moline, Illinois and trailed Division I Illinois State by just four points in the final 30 seconds before eventually falling 82-74 in Normal, Illinois.
 
After opening the season with double-digit wins at Alma and Calvin in the Illinois-Michigan Challenge, Augustana suffered its first loss at Loras (74-73) on two free throws with one-tenth of a second remaining.
 
The Vikings bounced back to win their next 17 games, 11 of them CCIW contests. Included in the streak were victories over fourth-ranked UW-Stevens Point (86-84 in OT), eighth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan (67-60), a previously undefeated Centre squad (90-64) and Wheaton (77-73) and North Central (76-59) outfits that would finish the year ranked sixth and 17th in the nation, respectively. They also had a victory over perennial power Washington University (77-63) and a second win over Illinois Wesleyan (87-65).
 
North Central finally snapped Augustana's skein with a 68-63 win in Naperville, Illinois on January 31, but Giovanine's crew won its final four regular season contests to move to 23-2 overall and finish 15-1 in the league.
 
The Vikings hosted the CCIW Tournament for the fourth time in five years and defeated Illinois Wesleyan 89-65 in the semifinals before falling 72-65 to North Central in the final.
 
Augustana also hosted two weekends of NCAA Division III Tournament action for the fourth time in five years. The Vikings defeated Aurora (93-67) and Capital (85-79) in the first two rounds at Carver Center to move onto to sectional play for the fifth year in a row. Wheaton, behind national Player of the Year Aston Francis, avenged two earlier defeats with a 93-79 win, ending another remarkable season for the Vikings.
 
Ebel (16.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg, .495 fg%, .427 3p%, .835 ft%, 93 ast) and Orange (12.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg, .378 3p%, 97 ast, 33 stl) finished first and third on the team in scoring this year and their names dot Augustana's career leader lists.
 
Orange—just the third Viking (John Laing, Drew Carstens) to be named first team All-CCIW three times—set school records for games played (125) and wins played in (104) and, in fact, played in more victories than any CCIW player since Wheaton's Don Anderson (106) from 1956-59. Orange finished sixth on Augustana's career scoring list with 1,466 points. He's also in the school's career top ten in free throws attempted (5th—477) and made (6th—336) and ranks 14th in three-point field goals (114), 15th in three-point percentage (.403), 13th in assists (257) and 15th in steals (tied with 105).
 
Ebel—a two-time first team All-CCIW pick—scored 1,401 points in his career to rank seventh in program history and is also in the top ten in games played (tied for 5th—113), assists (4th—321), free throws made (4th—387) and attempted (6th—473), three-point field goals (6th—152) and three-point percentage (6th—.441). His .818 career mark from the free throw line is 15th-best in school history.
 
Benning (11.0 ppg, 4.2 rpg, .447 3p%, .851 ft%), was the Vikings' fourth-leading scorer this year and led the team in three-point and free throw percentages. He ranks second in school history with an .858 career free throw mark and 14th with a .406 percentage from beyond the arc.
 
Guard Joe Kellen (Rockford Lutheran HS, Rockford, Ill.) (2.6 ppg, .385 3p%), who was the program's Defensive Player of the year as a junior, rounded out the 2019 senior class.
 
Among next year's returnees is Wofford (12.9 ppg, 5.8 rpg, .495 fg%, .804 ft%, 34 stl), who led the Vikings in rebounding and steals this year and finished second in scoring. Also due back is 6' 11" junior center Micah Martin (Iowa City HS, Iowa City, Iowa) (8.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg, .614 fg%, 43 blk). Martin is Augustana's career leader in field goal percentage at .613 and ranks second in blocked shots with 155.
 
Other mainstays in Giovanine's rotation this year included 6' 5" junior Lucas Simon (Notre Dame HS, Chicago, Ill.) (4.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg, .500 fg%, .387 3p%, .938 ft%, 63 ast), 6' 1" junior Austin Elledge (Highland HS, Highland, Ill.) (4.3 ppg, .783 ft%), 6' 9" junior Donovan Ferguson (Downers Grove South HS, Darien, Ill.) (4.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg, .526 fg%, 36 blk) and 5' 10" sophomore Jack Jelen (Bay HS, Bay Village, Ohio) (2.4 ppg, .509 fg%, .500 3p%). Ferguson will enter his senior season fifth in school history with 88 career blocked shots—a statistic that has been compiled since 1979-80.
 
 
2018-19 CCIW MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS

TEAM	CCIW	W-L	PCT	Overall	W-L	PCT
AUGUSTANA		15-1	.938		26-4	.867
North Central		12-4	.750		23-6	.793
Wheaton		11-5	.688		23-9	.719
Illinois Wesleyan		10-6	.625		18-9	.667
Elmhurst		7-9	.438		12-14	.462
Carroll		7-9	.438		11-15	.423
Millikin		5-11	.313		11-13	.458
Carthage		3-13	.188		8-17	.320
North Park		2-14	.125		4-21	.160

 
2019 CCIW Tournament
Carver Center—Augustana College—Rock Island, Illinois
 
First Round—Tuesday, February 19
(3) Wheaton 85, (6) Elmhurst 75 (Wheaton, Ill.)
(4) Illinois Wesleyan 82, (5) Carroll 73 (Bloomington, Ill.)
 
Semifinals—Friday, February 22
(2) North Central 94, (3) Wheaton 87
(1) AUGUSTANA 89, (4) Illinois Wesleyan 65
 
Championship—Saturday, February 23
(2) North Central 72, (1) AUGUSTANA 65
 
2018-19 AUGUSTANA SUPERLATIVES
CCIW TOURNAMENT: Only school to qualify for every CCIW Tournament (14 consecutive)
D3HOOPS.COM NATIONAL RANKING: 4th in final poll (First program to be ranked in the top five for five straight years)
D3HOOPS.COM ALL-AMERICA: Nolan Ebel (2nd team)
NABC ALL-CENTRAL DISTRICT: Nolan Ebel (1st team)
D3HOOPS.COM ALL-CENTRAL REGION: Nolan Ebel (1st team); Chrishawn Orange (2nd team)
BASKETBALL TIMES DIVISION III NATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR: Grey Giovanine
CCIW ALL-CONFERENCE: Chrishawn Orange (1st team); Nolan Ebel (1st team); Pierson Wofford (1st team); Brett Benning (2nd team)
CCIW ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE: Jason Cassens, Austin Elledge, Joe Kellen, Chrishawn Orange, Lucas Simon.
CCIW TEAM STATISTICAL LEADERS: Scoring Defense—63.2; Scoring Margin—16.8; Field Goal Percentage—.508; 3-point FG Percentage—.411; 3-point Percentage Defense—.332; Turnover Margin—3.69
CCIW INDIVIDUAL STATISTICAL LEADERS: Steals—1.63 spg, Pierson Wofford; Assist-to-turnover Ratio—3.11, Chrishawn Orange
NCAA TOP 25 TEAM RANKINGS: 3-point FG Percentage—.408 (6th); Blocked Shots—143 (12th); Scoring Margin—15.2 (14th); Field Goal Percentage—.495 (17th); Field Goal Percentage Defense—.401 (23rd); Rebound Margin—7.2 (24th); Scoring Defense—65.8 (25th)
INDIVIDUAL SCHOOL RECORDS: Games Played, career—125, Chrishawn Orange; Field Goal Percentage, career—.613, Micah Martin
TEAM SCHOOL RECORDS: Blocked Shots Per Game, season—4.8
AUGUSTANA SINGLE-SEASON TOP TEN: Three-point FG—67, Nolan Ebel (6th); Blocked Shots—43, Micah Martin (6th); Field Goal Percentage—.614, Micah Martin (7th); Blocked Shots Per Game—1.43, Micah Martin (7th), 1.29, Donovan Ferguson (10th-T)
AUGUSTANA CAREER TOP TEN: Games Played—125, Chrishawn Orange (1st), 113, Nolan Ebel (5th-T); Field Goal Percentage—.613, Micah Martin (1st); Free Throw Percentage—.858, Brett Benning (2nd); Blocked Shots—155, Micah Martin (2nd), 88, Donovan Ferguson (5th); Blocked Shots Per Game—1.78, Micah Martin (2nd), 1.13, Donovan Ferguson (4th); Assists—321, Nolan Ebel (4th); Free Throws Made—387, Nolan Ebel (4th), 336, Chrishawn Orange (6th); Free Throws Attempted—477, Chrishawn Orange (5th), 473, Nolan Ebel (6th); 3-point FG—152, Nolan Ebel (6th); 3-point FG Percentage—.441, Nolan Ebel (6th); Points—1466, Chrishawn Orange (6th), 1401—Nolan Ebel (7th)
 
2018-19 MEN'S BASKETBALL AWARDS
Most Outstanding Player: Nolan Ebel
Best Defensive Player: Chrishawn Orange
Leading Rebounder: Pierson Wofford
Junior Varsity MVP: Jarrett Tribble, Carson Frakes