ROCK ISLAND, Ill.—Austin Elledge (Highland HS, Highland, Ill.) scored 23 second-half points and Micah Martin (Iowa City HS, Iowa City, Iowa) rejected a potential game-tying shot at the final buzzer Saturday, as Augustana rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to defeat Carthage 83-81 at Carver Center. The 25th-ranked Vikings improved to 17-7 on the season and 11-4 in the CCIW, while the Red Men dropped to 15-8 overall and 7-7 in the league.
 
Martin's block culminated a wild final sequence. Leading 83-80 with 5.1 seconds to play, Augustana chose to foul rather than let Carthage attempt a game-tying three-pointer. Crishawn Cook went to the line with two seconds left and made the first to cut the deficit to two. After a Viking timeout, Cook intentionally missed his second try, but an inadvertent whistle stopped play. After a lengthy discussion, the officials went to the possession arrow and awarded the ball to the Red Men under the Augustana basket. Cook lobbed the inbounds pass to Brad Perry in the lane, but Martin got a hand on his jumper just before the final buzzer sounded.
 
There were five ties and ten lead changes in the first half before Carthage closed the period on an 11-4 run. Little-used Michael Huff scored five points in the spurt. Fillip Bulatovic's jumper at the 15-second mark gave the visitors their largest lead of the night at 42-33, but Pierson Wofford (Springfield Lutheran HS, Springfield, Ill.) hit a pair of free throws with two seconds left to pull the Vikings within seven (42-35) at the break.
 
Elledge scored eight points early in the second stanza as Augustana pulled to within 48-45 and a Jacob Pauley (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) triple from the right corner at the 14-minute mark got the Vikings even (48-48) for the first time since 4:17 of the first half. The lead changed hands twice before a Martin three-point play with 11:34 to play gave the hosts a 57-55 edge. They extended it to 66-58 on a Daniel Carr (Regis Jesuit HS, Highlands Ranch, Colo.) three-pointer with 8½ minutes left before Kienan Baltimore had two conventional three-point plays in a 10-2 Carthage spree that tied it at 68-all with 6:50 remaining.
 
Matt Hanushewsky (Hersey HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) fed Martin for a fast break dunk that put Augustana back up 78-72, but again the Red Men rallied, pulling even at 80-all on yet another Baltimore three-point play with 39 second to play. Elledge regained the lead for the Vikings, banking in a short jumper from the right side with 14 seconds left and then hitting one of two free throws with 5.1 seconds on the clock to set up the wild final sequence.
 
Elledge's 26 points were one off his career high. Wofford added 19 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and Martin had seven points, nine boards and three blocks. Jack Jelen (Bay HS, Bay Village, Ohio) had a game-high four assists.
 
Baltimore scored 18 of his 22 after halftime and also finished with nine rebounds, three assists and four steals. Cook added 19 points and Jordon Kedrowski 13.
 
Augustana shot .426 (26-61) from the field, .375 (9-24) from three-point range and .846 (22-26) from the free throw line. Carthage connected on 29 of 54 (.537) field goal attempts, six of 11 (.545) from beyond the arc and 17 of 24 (.708) from the foul line. The Vikings outrebounded their guests 35-31 and forced 18 turnovers while committing 14.
 
Coach Grey Giovanine's outfit will wrap up the regular season on Saturday, February 22 when North Park visits Carver Center for a 7:00 p.m. tip.