DECATUR, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings men's basketball team fell to the Millikin Big Blue on Saturday by a score of 85-77. 

The teams traded points and tied the game twice before Millikin pulled ahead with seven consecutive points to make a 17-10 score. The Vikings closed the gap to five after a three-pointer by Andre Klaver with 12:52 on the clock. The home team pulled the differential to 10 after scoring five straight points, making it 25-10. Ray Maurchie and Cam Atkinson put up four points for the Vikings to get within six, but the Big Blue followed with three to make a 28-19 score. A successful three-point shot by Atkinson moved the difference back to five with 7:42 remaining. The team saw this gap once more after a jumper by Klaver after stealing Millikin's possession, and later moved the game to four points after a three-pointer from Atkinson to make a 33-29 score. Augie saw this differential two more times after successful jump shots by Jake Williems. The Big Blue closed out the first half with a 9-4 run to make a 44-38 score after 20 minutes of play.

In the second half, the teams rallied points before Augie collected four straight points to get as close as three with a 47-44 score. A pull-up jump shot by Atkinson squashed the gap to three with 16:28 on the clock. Two minutes later, successful shots by Maddux Dieckman and Dani Romero closed the lead to two at 53-51. Millikin pulled ahead once more after a 10-3 run to move the game to 63-54 at 11:08. After a low-scoring three minutes, the Big Blue maintained the upper hand with Klaver knocking down a three-pointer off a pass from Marieon Anderson, closing the difference to five at 65-60. The teams traded shots once again, with a 10-2 run by the Vikings putting them within two points with 2:04 remaining in the game. Millikin concluded the game with seven free throws on eight attempts to seal the 85-77 victory. 

Three different Vikings scored double-digit points, with Atkinson leading with a career-high of 23 points. Anderson followed with 17 points and five rebounds, while Klaver had 16 points and three steals. 

With the loss, Augie moves to 4-4 on the season and 1-1 in conference action. The team will be back in action on Dec. 19-20 for the Wisconsin Dells Tournament.