MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- The Augustana Vikings men's basketball team will play its final game of the 2024 calendar year on Tuesday, December 31 when they hit the road to take on the No. 17 ranked Wisconsin Lutheran Warriors. 

Augustana enters with an 8-3 overall record and has won three straight games, recently defeating Bethel by a score of 83-51 on Saturday at home. Augustana never trailed in the win, breaking the lone tie at 2-2 with a Tyler Knuth three to put the team out in front for good. The Vikings' lead quickly reached double figures five minutes in before five straight steals by Staishaun Kelley in a span of just over a minute helped move the advantage out to 15. The scoring onslaught continued for Augie, later seeing a 7-0 run extend an 11-point margin out to 19 at 36-18. Anthony Cooper helped stretch the lead out to nearly 30 later in the half, connecting on four made threes in the final three minutes to bring the team its largest differential of the game at score of 54-25. A late Bethel triple made it a 54-28 lead for Augustana entering the halftime break. 

The Royals shrunk the gap to 18 in the opening minutes of the second, but a quick 8-0 run halted the momentum and put the Vikings back up by the cushion they began the half with. Ray Maurchie helped the team keep a sizable advantage, scoring eight points over the course of a three-minute span to maintain the 20-plus advantage. A Knuth layup with three minutes remaining moved the lead out to 31 before a couple of successful offensive possessions to close things out brought it to its largest margin of 32 to end the game. 

A total of 10 Vikings found the scoring column in the win, led by Evan Ambrose and Maurchie with 16 points apiece. Colton Gillingham had a balanced showing throughout, finishing next with 15 points to go with a team-high eight rebounds, while Cooper also tallied double figures in points with 14. Kelley shined on defense with seven steals, the most by any CCIW player in a game this season. He ranks 11th in the nation in steals and 20th in steals per outing. The team swiped 17 total and forced 22 Bethel turnovers on Saturday.

Wisconsin Lutheran currently sits with a 9-1 overall record and is coming off a successful trip to Texas, picking up victories over Southwestern and No. 23 Trinity. In their recent contest vs. Trinity, the Warriors had a big first half on their way to a 44-32 advantage after 20 minutes of action. Four players finished with double figures, led by Jacob Stoltz' 23. Ja'Quell Chisom was next with 19 off the bench in just 23 minutes of action. Wisconsin Lutheran shot just under 50 percent in the win and held Trinity to just 10 percent from behind the three-point line. On the season, the Warriors four double-digit scores and two others averaging over nine per game. Stoltz is the team leader at 18.1 per outing. Wisconsin Lutheran is 3-0 on its home court this season, with the most recent game resulting in a 91-67 win over Concordia-Chicago back on December 4. The team's lone loss came by one point at Illinois Tech.

Tuesday will be just the second meeting ever between the two programs. Augustana won the lone encounter back in 2011 by a score of 74-46.

Start time is scheduled for 1 p.m.