ROCK ISLAND -- The Augustana Vikings men's basketball team cruised to a home win in its season opener on Saturday, defeating the visiting Knox Prairie Fire by a final of 83-60.
The Vikings jumped out to a fast start, breaking away from a 7-7 tie with 17 of the next 18 points scored. A total of eight different Vikings tallied points during that span as they continued to hold a double-digit lead into the halftime break. A three-pointer from Knox moved the margin down to 13 at 24-11, but the 13 points would be as close as the visitors would get the rest of the half. Ten different players logged points in the first 20 minutes of action, led by
Tyler Knuth's 10 on 2-4 shooting and a 5-5 mark from the free-throw line.
Chase Larsen and
Anthony Cooper also contributed nine points apiece in the first to help lead Augie to a 49-21 lead at the break.
Augie grew its lead out to as many as 33 on three different occasions to kick off the second half. Knox halted the momentum from the Vikings briefly, chipping away at the differential to bring it down to 19 with 9:22 remaining, the smallest margin since the 4:28 mark of the first half. Augie halted the comeback attempt and returned the favor with a scoring run of its own, moving the cushion back out to 30 points before a late surge from Knox trimmed it down to the 83-60 final score.Â
The Vikings finished the evening with a 47 percent mark from the field, holding the Prairie Fire to 42 percent. Augie also held an advantage at both the free-throw line and from behind the three-point line, out-scoring Knox by six at the stripe and doubling them up from behind the arc with 10 makes to their five. As a team, the Vikings committed just six turnovers.
A total of 12 players found the scoring column in the win, led by Larsen's 17 and Knuth's 15.
Matt Hawkins also cracked double figures with 10, while Larsen was the game's top rebounder with 10 to complete his double-double. The top two scorers for Augie also helped fuel the defensive efforts, each snagging two steals apiece as well.
With the win, the Vikings begin the season 1-0. The team will be back in action Tuesday night at Coe.
