SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The first road trip of 2018 saw the Augustana men earn a split, with a comfortable 95-85 win at MSU Moorhead on Friday, followed by a hard-fought 89-78 loss at No. 9 Northern State on Saturday. Now the Vikings return home for four straight games, starting with Upper Iowa and Winona State this weekend
 
The four game homestand, which includes one game at the Elmen Center on Jan. 26, vs. Minnesota Duluth, starts with the Peacocks on Friday at 8 p.m., and continues Saturday at 6 p.m. against the Warriors, both at the Sioux Falls Arena.
 
The Vikings got 25 points from Jordan Spencer and a career-high 23 from Matt Cartwright on Friday, when the Vikings opened up a 20-4 lead at MSU Moorhead, and never looked back in the wire-to-wire win over the Dragons. Steven Schaefer added 17 points in the win, with Marcus Asmus finishing with 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
 
Augustana scored the first nine points of Saturday's game at Northern State, but the No. 9 ranked Wolves fired back to take a lead, and then held off several Vikings rallies to secure the win and remain unbeaten in Northern Sun play at 12-0.
 
Asmus followed-up a solid effort on Friday with a career night on Saturday, when he notched career-marks with 28 points and with four 3-pointers to go with his game-high nine rebounds. Schaefer pitched in with 19 points.
 
Vikings Quick Hits
• This week's games mark the 2,186th and 2,187th games in program history
• Augustana enters the week with a 147-59 all-time record in NSIC play
• Head coach Tom Billeter needs one more wins to reach 380 for his career
• The Vikings combined to go 27 for 30 from the free throw line last week
• Augustana led at some point in all 18 games this season and used the same starters in all 18 games
• All five Vikings starters average at least 10 points per game
• The Vikings shot over 60 percent in the first half of both games last weekend
• Augustana led wire-to-wire at MSU Moorhead on Friday for the third time this season (Nov. 25, at CSC, Jan. 6, vs. CSP)
• On Friday at MSU Moorhead, Augustana scored at least 50 points in a half for the sixth time this season (51)
• Augustana shot 90 percent from the free throw line in both games last week (9 of 10 at MSUM, 18 of 20 at NSU)
• Jordan Spencer moved into 12th all-time in scoring at Augustana on Saturday at Northern State with 1,512 career points
• Spencer leads the nation with 140 assists, and ranks fourth nationally with 7.8 assists per game
• Small College Basketball listed Spencer on the Bevo Francis Award watch list on Monday
• Marcus Asmus set a career-high with 26 points on Jan. 13, 2017, and broke that with 28 points on Jan. 13, 2018
 
Next Up
The homestand continues next weekend against Minnesota Duluth on Friday in the Elmen Center, and then concludes on Saturday in the Arena against St. Cloud State.