ROCK ISLAND, Ill. -- Dan Carr posted 18 points and 17 rebounds and Luke Johnson flirted with a near triple double as the Augustana Vikings men's basketball team picked up a key non-conference win in overtime on Tuesday, defeating the St. Mary's (Minn.) Cardinals by a score of 79-73 from inside the Carver Center.

It was a sluggish start for both teams and points were hard to come by in the opening 20 minutes, with both shooting in the low to mid-30 percent range for a majority of the first half. The Cardinals held a 14-9 advantage after ten minutes of action, but it was the Vikings who closed out the final stretch on a 21-10 run to take a six-point margin into halftime, which was the largest lead for either team at the time. Nate Ortiz scored 12 of his 16 points in the first half to lead a low-scoring 20 minutes of action. The Cardinals ended the opening frame shooting just 1-8 from the free throw line.
 
Both the Vikings and Cardinals traded buckets for the first five minutes of the second half as the 30-24 halftime lead turned into a 37-31 differential, soon followed with the Cardinals shrinking the deficit slowly until regaining the lead at 42-41.. From there, no lead surpassed five points either way and for the final six minutes of action, the game remained within one possession for all but 20 seconds. Trailing by three with under a minute left, the Cardinals secured a loose ball off of a shot and laid it in to make it a 65-64 lead in their favor. Following a free throw to push it to two, Augie tied it up with 11 seconds remaining on a Johnson acrobatic layup. The Augie defense held and the game headed to overtime tied 66-66.

Luke Johnson TIES THE GAME at 66-66 and we're heading to overtime here in the Carver Center! pic.twitter.com/Jxr8vuTcu0

— Augustana Vikings (@augieathletics) November 17, 2021

Augustana never trailed in the overtime session, grabbing the first points on a Johnson basket. The Vikings led by 2-4 points for the next three-plus minutes until an and-one basket from St. Mary's brought the margin back down to one with 57 seconds showing on the clock. On the ensuing possession, a mid-range jumper from Johnson pushed the lead to three before consecutive defensive stops and free throws iced the game and resulted in the six-point Vikings victory.

The Vikings shot 39 percent for the game and 24 percent from three, but held the Cardinals to a similar mark shooting the ball as the visitors finished 37 percent overall and 20 percent from downtown. St. Mary's converted just 57.7 percent of their 26 free throw attempts.

"It was not a work of art, but we made enough plays down the stretch to get the win," said head coach Tom Jesse. "I thought both teams really played hard and competed and it's nice to see us pull out a win even though we did not shoot the ball particularly well. We continue to be a work in progress and again saw some signs of being able to fight through some adversity."

Johnson scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half and overtime period and tallied seven assists and seven rebounds in the contest. Carter Duwa also cracked double figures with 11 points. Carr's 17 rebounds are a new career high.

With the win, Augie improves to 2-1 on the year. The team will head to Michigan for a pair of games beginning on Friday, November 19 when they take on Calvin. Tip is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CST from Grand Rapids, Mich.