BOX SCORE

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Augustana College men's basketball shot 56 percent from the field and hit 11 3-pointers in an 86-69 win over Pittsburg State University (0-1) on Saturday night at the Sanford Pentagon. Casey Schilling registered his second straight double-double finishing with a season-high 25 points and 12 rebounds.
 
Augustana improves to 2-0 on the season while tonight's game was Pittsburg State's season opener.
 
Alex Richter matched his career high pitching in with 18 points on 7 of 11 shooting, while hitting four 3-pointers. Jordan Spencer dished out a career-high 10 assists to go along with six rebounds.
 
Daniel Jansen finished the game with 11 points and six boards. Freshman forward Marcus Asmus came in off the bench and picked up eight points on 4 of 5 shooting.
 
The Vikings out-rebounded Pittsburg State 36-24 and held the Gorillas to just two offensive boards in the game. Josiah Gustafson led PSU with 26 points and hit a team-high four 3-pointers.
 
Guske hit two 3-pointers in the first minute and a half of the opening period and the Vikings used the momentum to build a seven-point lead going on an 8-1 run to take a 15-8 lead with less than five minutes gone in the game.
 
Augustana continued to build on the momentum, extending the run to 26-5 over the next five minutes to take a 33-12 lead. The Vikings hit four 3-pointers during the stretch and eventually built its lead to 22 points at 41-29 with 4:23 to go in the half after a 3-pointer by Matt Brazendale.
 
The Viking defense made things tough on the Gorillas early, holding Pittsburg State to just 6 of 18 shooting (33 percent) through the first 15 minutes of the half. Augustana had an answer for just about every PSU score in the first half and was able to take a 47-31 lead into the locker room at halftime.
 
Schilling finished the first half 6 of 8 from the field, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range and hit two free throws for 17 points. He added five rebounds for the Vikings while Spencer dished out six of his assists in the first 20 minutes.
 
Augustana had the hot hand in the half shooting 60 percent from the field (18 of 30), hitting 8 of 16 from 3-point range. The Vikings did not allow any second-chance opportunities to the Gorillas as PSU did not collect any offensive rebounds.
 
The Vikings and Gorillas played evenly over the first eight minutes of the second half as PSU out-scored the Vikings 19-17 but Augustana was able to maintain a 14-point lead at 64-50 with 11:29 to play.
 
That would be as close as they would get as the Vikings took over at the midway point of the second going on a 16-6 run to take its largest lead of the game at 24 (80-56).
 
Gustafson took over for PSU scoring 10 of his 26 points in the final five minutes of the game but the Vikings' hot shooting in the first half allowed the Vikings to maintain its double-digit lead all night long.
 
Augustana returns to the hardwood o n Monday, Nov. 17, hosting Mayville State at the Elmen Center. Tipoff on Monday is set for 7 p.m.