DECATUR, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings men's basketball team earned its first conference win of the season on Wednesday, defeating the Millikin Big Blue on the road by a score of 74-59.

"I am not sure there is a college team in America that needed and deserved a win tonight more than we did," said head coach Tom Jessee following the victory. "I am so happy for our players and assistants. We defended so well the entire game and really executed on the offensive end in the second half. It was a great CCIW win on the road for our team."

After a back-and-forth start, the Vikings broke away from an early deadlock with a 6-0 scoring run thanks to consecutive threes from Matt Hawkins and Zach Anderson. Despite seeing another tie at 17 points apiece, the Vikings never trailed the rest of the half, pushing their cushion out to as many as nine points before a late run from the Big Blue brought them even at 29-all. Dani Romero's last second layup gave Augie the lead at 31-29 after 20 minutes of action. Both teams shot over 50 percent from the field and 40-plus percent from behind the three-point line in the opening half, with Augustana boasting a 59 percent mark shooting the ball. 

A jumper by Tyler Knuth accounted for the first points of the second half, but Millikin hung around within two possessions for the first six minutes of play. After a basket pushed the margin out to eight, the Big Blue responded with a small run to chip away and get it back down to four at the halfway point. Augustana answered with a converted and-one layup from Andrew Ayeni to keep its distance, eventually stretching the differential out to as many as 10 with 5:46 to go. Millikin charged back, cutting it to three points on two separate occasions, but five made free throws in a row from Augie halted the comeback threat as they pulled away for good.

Four different Vikings cracked double figures in the win, led by Knuth's 19-point effort. Chase Larsen was next in line with 15 points, followed by Ayeni with 12 and Hawkins with 10. As a team, the Vikings shot over 56 percent from the field in the game and held the Big Blue to under 30 percent in the second half. 

With the win, Augustana improves to 2-7 on the season and 1-2 in the CCIW. The Vikings will return home on Saturday, December 9 to host North Park. Start time is scheduled for 7:15 p.m.