ROCK ISLAND, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings men's basketball team will return home to the Carver Center for the first time in nearly a month on Monday, January 17 when they host the North Central Cardinals in a rescheduled CCIW contest. Their originally planned contest on January 5 was postponed due to health and safety concerns.
The Vikings end a string of five straight on the road in which they saw a 3-2 record, including two games against teams ranked in the top ten nationally. They are coming off a close 83-78 defeat against No. 3 Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday. The Vikings trailed by as many as 15 points on two separate occasions in the second half and found themselves in a double-digit deficit with four minutes remaining in the game. A late charge brought them within three points with under 30 seconds to play, but the Titans held on with late free throws and a defensive stop.
Dan Carr posted a career-high 28 points to go with 14 rebounds to give him his 11th double double through 15 games.
Matt Hanushewsky had an efficient game for the Vikings, scoring 16 points to go with five rebounds, four assists, and zero turnovers.
North Central enters Monday sporting with a 7-5 record overall and 2-2 mark in the CCIW. The Cardinals played in their first game on Saturday since December 28, falling to the No. 10 ranked Wheaton Thunder on the road by a score of 83-79. Matt Helwig led the Cardinals in scoring with 36 points in the contest. He leads North Central at 27.1Â points per game, good for fourth in the nation. Outside of conference play, the Cardinals have two common opponents with Augie this season in Aurora and UW-Oshkosh, who they went 1-1 against.
Augustana leads the all-time series between the two 107-68. The Vikings won the most recent encounter 80-76 last season at home, breaking a five-game losing streak to the Cardinals. Despite the losing skid, each team has won five times over the last ten meetings.
Tip is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. All planning to attend are to adhere to the
Augustana College spectator policy.
Game coverage vs. North Central
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