CHICAGO, Ill. – Augustana rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit Thursday at the North Park Gymnasium to defeat NPU 80-75 for its fourth consecutive victory. Coach Steve Schafer's club held its opponent scoreless over the final 3:55 to improve to 4-2 on the season and in the CCIW. The hosts fell to 1-9 overall and in the league.
 
Toby Marek's  two free throws with 16:52 to play gave North Park a 53-40 advantage, matching its largest of the night. Freshman Tyler Knuth (Guilford HS, Rockford, Ill.) scored at the 15-minute mark to whittle Augustana's deficit under double digits at 54-46 and the guests continued to chip away. Sophomore Carter Duwa (Pleasant Valley HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) drilled a three-pointer with 11:22 left that got his team within five (59-54) and Luke Johnson (Longmont HS, Longmont, Colo.) hit another less than a minute later to make it 61-57.
 
Another Duwa trey pulled Augustana to within a bucket (67-65) and two Daniel Carr (Regis Jesuit HS, Highlands Ranch, Colo.) free throws with 6:28 remaining gave the visitors a 70-69 lead—their first since midway through the first half.  Marek answered with two free throws and a field goal to regain the lead for NPU and the Chicagoans still led 75-72 after a Jordan Boyd layup with 3:55 to play.
 
Carr cut it to one with a bucket at the three-minute mark and after two empty trips for North Park and one for Schafer's squad, Johnson earned a trip to the foul line with 1:28 on the clock. The junior drained both attempts to put Augustana back on top 76-75. The teams traded empty trips before Duwa came through with a key steal in the final half-minute. He was then fouled and his two free throws extended the advantage to 78-75. Following a sixth straight defensive stop, Jack Jelen's (Bay HS, Bay City, Ohio) two freebies with seven seconds left sealed the win.
 
There were six lead changes and two ties in the first 9:15 of the game. Johnson split two free throws at the 10:35 mark of the first half to give Augustana a 22 -21 edge. Duwa answered a Lawrence Pointer trey with a bucket that forged one final first-half tie (24-24), but a Boyd layup gave NPU a lead it would hold for nearly 23 minutes.
 
North Park took its biggest lead of the half at 33-24, but five straight points by Carr helped trim the margin to 35-33 5:17 before halftime. NPU responded with a 10-3 spurt to go up 45-36 on a Karl Polk basket with 1:17 on the clock. Johnson scored just before the halftime buzzer to pull Augustana to within 45-38 at the break.
 
Carr posted his third straight double-double and his fourth in six games this season, finishing with game highs of 23 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots. Duwa added 18 points, Knuth 13 and Johnson 11. Marek led three NPU players in double digits with 21 points.
 
Augustana finished the night 27 of 60 (.450) from the field, nine of 20 (.450) from three-point range and 17 of 19 (.895) from the foul line. North Park shot .459 (28-61) from the floor, .375 (6-16) from beyond the arc and .765 (13-17) from the charity stripe. However, Schafer's bunch limited its hosts to .370 field goal shooting and no three-pointers after intermission. Augustana held a 36-34 edge on the boards and committed just seven turnovers to NPU's nine.
 
The two teams will square off again at Carver Center on Saturday, February 20. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.