KENOSHA, Wis. -- The Augustana Vikings men's basketball team saw its bid for a comeback fall short on Friday in the CCIW Tournament semifinals, defeated by the No. 16 ranked Illinois Wesleyan Titans by a final of 70-65.

The Titans grabbed the first two baskets of the game before consecutive trips by Augie, including a four-point play from Tyler Knuth, gave the team its first lead at 7-6. From there, it was all Illinois Wesleyan to close out the half, using a 13-2 run to build a double-digit lead around the 11-minute mark. Ray Maurchie's jumper halted the run and moved the gap back into single digits, but another scoring spurt by the Titans built a cushion of 18 at 29-11. Illinois Wesleyan doubled up Augustana to conclude the first 20 minutes and led 40-20 at the break after hitting 52 percent of its looks and posting a 46 percent mark from deep. The Vikings connected on just 28 percent in the opening half.

Augustana won the opening three minutes of the second half and cut the deficit to just 13 following a 9-2 run to begin the frame. Consecutive threes by the Titans erased the hot start for the Vikings and moved the cushion back out to 19, but Augie battled back to trim the differential to single digits around the halfway point. Following a three by Illinois Wesleyan, Knuth hit his second straight from deep to offset the Titans bucket and was followed by a Staishaun Kelley steal and layup to move the score to 53-47 with 9:31 to go.

The Vikings went the next three-plus minutes without a point and faced another double-digit deficit of 12 on two different occasions, with the latest coming around the four-minute mark. From there, eight straight points from Knuth quickly shrunk the gap to just four and an Evan Ambrose three-pointer at 2:12 brought Augie within two at 63-61. Three consecutive points at the free throw line for Illinois Wesleyan gave the Titans some space, but Knuth's successful trip to the charity stripe made it a one-possession game again with under a minute remaining. A pair of missed free throws for the Titans ensued, but an offensive rebound allowed them another chance to knock down two. A late IWU layup after breaking the press put the game out of reach with just seconds remaining.

Knuth ended the night with a game-high 30 points, hitting five threes on 10 attempts and posting a 9-10 mark from the free throw line. Ambrose followed with 12 on 5-7 shooting.

Augustana ends the season with a 17-10 overall record, the most wins in a season since 2019-20.