Box Score
The Augustana men's basketball team turned in one of its best defensive efforts of the season as the Vikings defeated Wayne State 67-47 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Saturday night at Rice Auditorium in Wayne, Neb.
Augustana improved to 7-2 overall and 2-1 in the NSIC after opening conference play with three-straight road games. Wayne State, meanwhile, fell to 4-5 overall and 1-2 in the NSIC.
The Vikings, who won their third-straight game and second-straight road game, got off to a fast start, scoring the first 5 points of the game. Augustana pushed the lead to 13-4 and later 22-8 with 7:30 left in the first half. The Vikings increased the margin to 20 at 39-19 with a 3-pointer by Marques Blank with 23 seconds left in the half. However, WSC's Marcus Messersmith hit a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to make the score 39-22 at intermission.
Augustana shot 52 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, connecting on 15 of 29 shots. The Vikings also made 4 of 8 3-point attempts.
Meanwhile, the host Wildcats struggled to solve the Viking defense. WSC shot just 33.3 percent in the half, making 7 of 21 field goals, including only 1 of 7 attempts behind the 3-point line.
Wayne State scored the first 4 points of the second half to trim the deficit to 39-26 with 19:06 left in the game, but Augie countered with a 6-0 run that boosted the advantage to 19 points at 45-26 with 17 minutes on the clock. Augustana led by at least 14 points the rest of the contest.
For the game, Augustana shot 50 percent from the field, making 26 of 52 shots. Meanwhile, the Vikings held Wayne State to 35 percent (15 of 43) shooting, including only 3 of 12 shooting from 3-point range. It was the lowest overall field goal percentage by a home opponent this season.
Blank and David Foster powered the Viking offense. Foster scored a game-high 16 points, including 10 in the first half, while Blank finished with a season-high 13 points.
Brian Metz was the only WSC player in double digits with 11 points.
Augustana also held a 33-29 rebounding advantage. Eric Krogman led the Vikings with a game-high 8 boards.
The Vikings are now off until next Saturday when they travel to Billings, Mont., to face Montana State-Billings in a 2 p.m. (MT) contest. It is Augie's final game of the month of December.
