WHEATON, Ill.—Augustana led nearly wire-to-wire Wednesday night in downing Wheaton 79-68 night at King Arena. The Vikings' seventh win in their last eight games moved them to 15-6 on the season and 9-3 in the CCIW, while the Thunder fell to 12-8 overall and 6-5 in the conference.
 
Augustana took a 5-0 lead on a Lucas Simon (Notre Dame HS, Chicago, Ill.) three-pointer and a pair of Pierson Wofford (Springfield Lutheran HS, Springfield, Ill.) free throws and never trailed. Wheaton tied twice—both times on two Tyson Cruickshank free throws—at nine and 11-all, but a Matt Hanushewsky (Hersey HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) triple gave the Vikings an advantage that they would maintain the rest of the night.
 
Another Hanushewsky trey with 5½ minutes left in the first half pushed the margin to seven (30-23) before Anajuwon Spencer hit one for the Thunder and then one of two free throws to get his team to within 30-27. Hanushewsky's layup at the 3:51 mark started a 9-0 Augustana run, as the visitors took control. Simon hit a jumper, Austin Elledge (Highland HS, Highland, Ill.) a three-pointer and Jack Jelen (Bay HS, Bay Village, Ohio) a layup to put the Vikings on top 39-27. A Justin Bottorff (Quincy Notre Dame HS, Quincy, Ill.) three-pointer gave them their biggest lead of the half at 42-29 before Wheaton's Nyameye Adom hit one of two free throws with a second left to make it 42-30 at the break.
 
After Micah Martin (Iowa City HS, Iowa City, Iowa) scored the first bucket of the second stanza, a Luke Anthony three-pointer ignited a 17-4 Thunder run over the next 5½ minutes. Adom's layup with 13:34 to play drew Wheaton to within 48-47, as close as they'd been since 11:19 of the first half.
 
The hosts still trailed by just a point (53-52) with 12:19 to play, but Augustana ran off 14 straight points over the next five minutes to take command. A Wofford field goal started the run and Simon capped it with a layup that made it 67-52 with 7:07 remaining.
 
The closest the Thunder would get the rest of the way was 72-65 on an Adom trey at the 2:24 mark. Wofford answered with a jumper and then fed Jelen for a layup that extended the margin back to double digits. Donovan Ferguson's (Downers Grove South HS, Darien, Ill.) dunk in the final minute accounted for the final.
 
Coach Grey Giovanine got excellent balance throughout his rotation. Elledge led in the scoring column with 15 points. Wofford (14) and Martin (13) were also in double digits and an additional four Vikings tallied between six and nine points. Ferguson grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds, while Wofford contributed nine boards and game highs of five assists and two blocked shots.
 
Anthony and Adom led Wheaton with 16 points apiece and Cruickshank grabbed 11 rebounds.
 
As a team, Augustana hit 31 of 65 (.477) shots from the field, including 10 of 18 (.556) from three-point range. The Vikings were seven of 12 (.583) from the foul line. They held the Thunder to .415 (22-53) shooting from the floor and .313 (5-16) from long range, outrebounded them 39-33 and committed just 10 turnovers to Wheaton's 13. The hosts converted 19 of 28 (.679) free throws.
 
Now tied for second place in the CCIW, Giovanine's crew faces another key league contest in its final road date of the regular season Saturday, February 8. Augustana travels to Bloomington, Illinois to take on Illinois Wesleyan. The Titans (14-6, 8-3) sit in fourth place in the conference, just a half-game back of the Vikings. Tipoff at the Shirk Center is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.