ROCK ISLAND -- The Augustana Vikings men's basketball team dropped a close contest to the visiting No. 12 ranked UW-La Crosse Eagles on Wednesday, falling by a score of 73-70 from inside the Carver Center.
After the Vikings notched the opening basket of the game, the Eagles tallied 11 of the next 13 points to force an early Augie timeout. The Vikings played catch-up for a good portion of the half, trimming it to just three on three different occasions before the visitors cushioned their advantage to eight points, the largest for either team, with eight minutes left in the first half.
Over the course of the next four minutes, the Vikings stormed back to tie the game, using a 10-2 run while holding the Eagles to just one made field goal over that span. The lead was pushed back out to five, but a made three by
Matt Hawkins and three made free throws from
Evan Ambrose down the stretch cut the deficit to one at 37-36 heading into halftime. Augie shot 63.6 percent through 20 minutes, while each team connected on 14 made field goals.
Two quick baskets from the Eagles forced a Vikings timeout just over a minute into the second and the visitors kept their advantage around two possessions for a majority of the half. La Crosse finally broke away from Augustana for a short while, pushing their margin to seven at both the 6:11 and 4:52 marks. Back-to-back three-pointers from
Anthony Cooper and
Chase Larsen made it a one-point game again, but the Eagles answered every Augie run with one of their own, holding their familiar two-basket lead throughout the final minutes. The Vikings cut it to one once more at the two-minute mark, but were unable to get it back within a single possession until two made free throws from
Daniel Carr with 14 seconds remaining. An Ambrose layup cut it to two with three seconds showing, but Augustana could not get a shot off after grabbing a rebound off a missed free throw. Time ran out to give the visitors a 73-70 victory.
Cooper led the way in scoring for the Vikings, tallying a game-high 19 points on 8-10 shooting. Hawkins and Ambrose each found double figures with 15 and 11 points, respectively. As a team, the Vikings hit 52 percent of their looks compared to La Crosse's 42.6 percent effort. Each team made nine threes, while the Eagles held a plus-nine advantage at the charity stripe.
With the loss, Augustana drops to 3-9 overall. The Vikings will wrap up non-conference action on Friday, December 30 when they take on Illinois College on the road. Start time is scheduled for 3 pm from Jacksonville, Ill.
