Box Score DECATUR, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings men's basketball team was defeated by the Millikin Big Blue on Saturday, falling by a score of 70-45 in each teams' conference opener.

The home team jumped out to a quick lead early on, doubling up the Vikings 14-7 in the opening minute. Augustana slowly inched back, eventually taking the lead at 26-24 with just under five minutes showing in the first half, but Millikin responded with a 14-0 run to regain control. Nate Ortiz converted a late layup to stop the outburst and the Big Blue took a 36-28 advantage into halftime.

After Millikin scored the first basket of the second, a quick 5-0 spurt from the Vikings got them within five points, but that would be as close as they saw it the rest of the way. The Big Blue used another big run, this time 21-3, to stretch their margin out to 23 points halfway through. From there, the Vikings were unable to get it under 21 as Millikin coasted to the 25-point victory.

Carter Duwa led the Vikings with 13 points in his return on 4-10 shooting. He was the lone Augustana player in double figures as the team shot just 31 percent compared to Millikin's 54 percent mark. Matt Hawkins added seven off of the bench.

With the loss, Augie drops to 4-4 overall and 0-1 in CCIW play. The team will be back in action on Saturday, December 11 when they host Carthage. Start time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. from inside the Carver Center.