Box Score
After spending the past week preparing for final exams, the Augustana men's basketball team passed another test, defeating South Dakota School of Mines and Technology 103-66 in a non-conference contest Thursday night at the Elmen Center.
The Vikings improved to 8-1 on the season. The Hardrockers, ranked 22nd in the latest NAIA Division II national rankings, remained 9-4 as the game was an exhibition contest on their schedule.
It took the Vikings about 10 minutes to shift gears from studying to basketball, but once they did, they kicked it into overdrive, scoring a season high in points while committing what is believed to be a school-record 3 turnovers, all of which came in the first half.
Senior
David Foster ignited the Vikings. He scored 9 straight points for the Vikings during an 11-5 run that turned an 18-12 deficit into a 30-23 lead 6 minutes to play in the first half.
But Augustana wasn't done. Moments later, Foster buried a 3-pointer, his fourth of the half, to start a 12-0 Viking run that pushed the lead to 45-29 with 2:15 remaining in the half. Augie led 48-34 at the break.
Foster was the spark plug for Augustana in the first 20 minutes. He scored 17 of his season-high 19 points in the period as he made 6 of 8 shots, including all 4 3-point attempts.
But the Vikings didn't let up in the second half. Augustana outscored the Hardrockers 21-6 in the first 4:50 of the stanza to increase its advantage to 69-40. The Vikings led by at least 27 points the rest of the game.
While Foster led Vikings in the first half,
Cameron McCaffrey and
Lee Stephens paced the team in the second. McCaffrey netted 13 of his career-high 21 points after halftime, while Stephens scored 8 points in the team's big run to start the second half. He finished with 11 points in the half and 13 in the game.
Augustana also received career nights from
Nathan Truex and
Eric Jorgensen. Truex scored a career-high 14 points, while Jorgensen added 7 points, a career high, and 6 rebounds off the bench.
The Vikings shot over 50 percent from the field for only the second time this season, connecting on 52.7 percent (39 of 74) of their attempts. They also drained a season-high 13 shots from 3-point range and were 12 of 16 from the free throw line.
Meanwhile, SDSM&T shot a respectable 47.3 percent (26 of 55) from the field, but the Hardrockers made just 3 of 10 3-point attempts. In addition, they committed 19 turnovers.
Nathan Jacobson led the Hardrockers with 12 points, while Kaleb Rehmer and Carl Johnson each came off the bench to score 11 points. Kyle Turpin was the fourth Hardrocker in double figures with 10 pints.
Augustana will play its final game of 2009 on Saturday when the Vikings entertain Dakota State. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Elmen Center.
