ROCK ISLAND -- The Augustana Vikings men's basketball team fell in a close battle with the No. 16 Washington-St. Louis Bears on Sunday, dropping a one-point 70-69 thriller inside the Carver Center.

After the Bears secured the game's first multi-possession lead of the afternoon at 16-11, the Vikings chipped away and eventually took the lead at 25-24 with just under six minutes remaining in the opening half. After a Washington basket, Augie closed out the final five minutes on a 10-0 run, highlighted by a balanced scoring effort that saw points from four different players. The Vikings held the Bears to an 0-7 shooting mark to go with two turnovers during the scoring run. Augustana led 35-26 after 20 minutes of action. Chase Larsen had eight of his 10 points and five of his seven rebounds in the opening half.

A 14-6 spurt from the visitors cut the margin to just a point at the 13:39 mark to kick off the second half. The Vikings continued to hold on to their advantage, pushing it back out to as many as six. The Bears grabbed their first lead of the second half at 6:33 as a made jumper put them in front at a score of 58-57. Augustana responded with seven straight points out of a timeout to stretch their lead back out to six, but Washington chipped away, tying things back up at 67-67 with under a minute to play.

On the Vikings next possession, Larsen got the ball back after a missed shot and offensive rebound by Nicholas Giliberto, finding Daniel Carr down low to put the Vikings back up two with 13 seconds showing on the clock. Following a timeout, the Bears earned a bucket and foul down low, converting the and-one to make it a 70-69 game with three seconds left. A full-court heave from Larsen found Carr on the elbow, but his last-second look at the basket fell off the rim to give the Bears the one-point victory.

Carr led Augustana in scoring, notching 24 points to go with eight rebounds. He finished a perfect 4-4 from behind the arc and also added two blocks. Larsen was the lone Viking to join Carr in double figures, while Evan Ambrose and Giliberto each had seven off of the bench. As a team, Augie shot an even 50 percent in each half and went 8-12 from three. The Bears ended just over 57 percent overall as a team and hit half of their 14 three-point attempts.

With the loss, the Vikings drop to 1-4 on the season. The team will be back in action on Wednesday, November 30 when they visit the No. 24 ranked Wheaton Thunder to open CCIW play. Start time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.