Box Score
David Foster ignited a second-half flurry that propelled the Augustana men's basketball team to a 70-54 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory over Wayne State Saturday night in Wayne, Neb.
Augustana, ranked 25th in the nation, improved to 17-4 overall and 10-4 in the NSIC, while Wayne State slipped to 9-12 overall and 6-8 in the conference.
Foster, a senior from Big Timber, Mont., scored 23 of his season-high 25 points in the second half as the Vikings snapped a two-game losing skid. Foster also made a season-high 6 3-pointers in the contest, all in the second half.
Trailing 23-20 at halftime, the Vikings fell behind by six points, its largest deficit of the game, early in the second half when WSC's Amry Shelby made a 3-pointer with 19:42 left. That's when Foster took over the game.
Foster buried back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game at 26-26 and then made a free throw at the 18:07 mark to give the Vikings the lead for good at 27-26.
Wayne State managed to tie the game 33-33, the sixth tie of the game, with 13:34 left in the game. Again Foster had the answer. He drained three 3-pointers during an 11-2 run that put the Vikings in front 44-35 with 10:42 on the clock.
Moments later,
Jordan Dalton and Foster each knocked down shots beyond the arc to increase the Augustana advantage to 52-39 with 8 minutes to play. Wayne State got no closer than 8 points the rest of the game.
Foster and the Vikings barely missed a shot in the second half. As a team, Augustana made 17 of 24 field goal attempts (71 percent), with Foster leading the way, making 8 of 9 shots, including 6 of 7 shots from 3-point range.
Wayne State, on the other hand, cooled off in the second half. After shooting 53 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes of play, the Wildcats connected on only 39 percent (11 of 28) of their shots in the second half.
Cody Schilling was the only other Viking in double figures, netting 14 points to go along with a team-high 6 rebounds.
Shelby paced Wayne State with 15 points, while Brad Starken and Brett Spiker added 14 and 13 points apiece.
After two weeks on the road, Augustana returns home next weekend for a pair of games. On Friday, Augustana takes on Upper Iowa at 8 p.m. before the Vikings entertain Winona State on Saturday at 7 p.m.
