KENOSHA, Wis.—Augustana raced to a 48-30 halftime lead Saturday and went on to defeat 18th-ranked Carthage 84-68 at Tarble Arena. The victory lifted Coach Grey Giovanine's club to 8-4 on the season and 2-1 in the CCIW, while the Red Men fell to 9-3 overall and 1-2 in the league.
 
Leading the way for the Vikings were seniors Pierson Wofford (Springfield Lutheran HS, Springfield, Ill.), Micah Martin (Iowa City HS, Iowa City, Iowa), Austin Elledge (Highland HS, Highland, Ill.) and Lucas Simon (Notre Dame HS, Chicago, Ill.). Wofford shot 8-of-9 from the floor on his way to a game-high 20 points. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out four assists. Martin made seven of 11 shots from the field and finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Elledge scored 18 and Simon's line included a game-high 10 rebounds, seven points, four assists and a pair of steals.
 
Carthage scored the game's first six points, but a Martin three-point play at 16:40 of the first half got the lid off the basket for Augustana and sparked an 8-0 run. Elledge's three-pointer a minute later gave the Vikings their first lead at 8-6. The Red Men regained the lead at 12-10 on a pair of Jordon Kedrowski free throws, but Luke Johnson (Longmont HS, Longmont, Colo.) answered with a short jumper from the right side and when Donovan Ferguson (Downers Grove South HS, Darien, Ill.) hit the first of two free throws with 10:37 left in the half, Augustana had a 13-12 edge that it would never relinquish.
 
A Johnson trey and a Wofford layup extended the advantage to 18-12. A Jack Jelen (Bay HS, Bay Village, Ohio) three stretched the margin to seven at 23-16 and when Wofford hit a deuce and a three-pointer inside the seven-minute mark, the Viking lead was 30-16.
 
Baskets by Carthage big men Sean Johnson and Brad Perry twice cut the deficit to 10, but a Jacob Schwerbrock (Wethersfield HS, Kewanee, Ill.) three-pointer ignited a 10-1 Augustana run that made it 42-23. Jelen—who finished with a game-high five assists—fed Wofford for a layup that gave the visitors their biggest lead of the night (48-28) before Kedrowski's two free throws closed out the first half scoring.
 
Filip Bulatovic scored eight points in the first eight minutes of the second half as the Red Men whittled the deficit to nine at 55-46. However, Luke Johnson responded with a trey at the 11:50 mark and the margin wouldn't dip below double digits again. Simon's steal and layup in the last minute made it 84-65 before a Preston Laketa three-pointer accounted for the final.
 
The Vikings connected on 33 of 63 (.524) field goal attempts, including nine of 21 (.429) three-point tries, and nine of 11 (.818) from the foul line. They limited Carthage, who ranks third in the nation in field goal percentage, to just .404 (23-57) shooting from the floor and .235 (4-17) from beyond the arc. The Red Men did convert 18 of 21 (.857) free throws. Augustana controlled the boards by a 40-29 margin and committed 16 turnovers to 15 for the hosts.
 
The Vikings will face their third consecutive ranked opponent on the road when they travel to Elmhurst on Wednesday, January 8 to take on the 16th-ranked Bluejays. Tipoff at Faganel Hall is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.