ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Augustana rallied from a 15-point deficit in the final 8:05 Saturday to pull out an 80-76 win over defending CCIW champion North Central at Carver Center. The victory was the first for Head Coach Steve Schafer at his alma mater. The Vikings improved to 1-2 on the season, while the Cardinals suffered their first setback in four contests.
 
Mike Pollack's fadeaway jumper from 18 feet gave North Central a seemingly comfortable 68-53 lead with 8:21 left to play. At the other end, Jack Jelen (Bay HS, Bay Village, Ohio) drilled a three-pointer from the right corner to spark the hosts' comeback. The margin was still 13 (71-58) as the clocked ticked under seven minutes, but Carter Duwa (Pleasant Valley HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) hit a trey from the left wing and freshman Tyler Knuth (Guilford HS, Rockford, Ill.) turned an offensive rebound into a conventional three point play to pull Augustana to within 71-64 with 5:35 left.
 
A Daniel Carr (Regis Jesuit HS, Highlands Ranch, Colo.) triple and two Luke Johnson (Longmont HS, Longmont, Colo.) free throws cut the deficit to 71-69 with four minutes left and a Justin Bottorff (Quincy Notre Dame HS, Quincy, Ill.) steal led to a Carr jumper from the right baseline that pulled the Vikings even.
 
Schafer's club followed with another stop and Jelen scored off a Matt Hanushewsky (Hersey HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) feed to give his team its first lead (73-71) since the 6:55 mark of the first half. North Central scored four straight to regain the lead, but Hanushewsky's layup with 1:51 left tied it at 75-all and Jelen dropped in a left-handed layup high off the glass with a minute remaining to put Augustana up for good.
 
Trailing 78-76, North Central had one final chance, but Blaise Meredith's three-point attempt was off the mark and Johnson dived on the loose ball, calling timeout with 4.1 seconds on the clock. Carr was fouled on the ensuing inbounds pass and converted both free throws to make it 80-76. Bottorff deflected the Cardinals' inbounds pass to seal the victory.
 
The first half was nip-and-tuck the whole way. The only time the margin reached more than five points was when a Carr three-pointer at the 8:09 mark put the Vikings up 28-22. North Central responded with 11 straight points however and eventually took a 44-41 lead to the break at halftime.
 
The Cardinals' red-hot shooting continued early in the second half, with Meredith and Matt Helwig dropping in triples to extend the margin to 50-41. Augustana wouldn't get it under seven again until its final push.
 
Carr finished with game highs of 21 points and eight rebounds. Bottorff added 13 points and Jelen a dozen. Freshman Jonathan Mullins (Prairie HS, Cedar Rapids, Iowa) provided a nice spark in the first half and finished with nine points and three assists. Hanushewsky and Johnson added eight and seven points, respectively, with three assists apiece. Pollack's 21 points led North Central.
 
Schafer's bunch finished the afternoon 27 of 54 (.500) from the floor, eight of 24 (.333) from beyond the arc and 18 of 21 (.857) at the foul line. The visitors shot .491 (27-55) from the field, .458 (11-24) from long range and .733 (11-15) from the charity stripe. The Cardinals had a 33-27 edge on the glass, but committed 16 turnovers to just eight for the Vikings.
 
Augustana is back in action on Thursday, February 4, hosting Millikin for a 7:00 p.m. tip at Carver.