WINONA, Minn. – Trailing by as many as 12 points late in the first half, and down by eight at halftime, the Augustana men's basketball team rallied to outscore Winona State by 10 points in the second half to secure an 86-84 win on Friday night in McCown Gymnasium.
 
The win ensures the Vikings a winning season with a 15-12 record, and gives them a 10-11 mark in the Northern Sun, while the host Warriors fall to 18-9 overall, and to 13-8 in NSIC play.
 
The teams traded triples to open the game, but the Warriors used an early 10-2 run to take and early 13-5 lead. The Vikings fired back with seven straight points to cut that lead to one point, only to see the Warriors build it back to 20-12 with just over 13 minutes left in the opening half.
 
Down eight again later in the half, Augustana put together another 7-0 run, only to see Winona State come right back with a 12-2 run to go up 37-26 with 3:28 on the first half clock, a lead would reach as many as 12, but get trimmed to 45-37 at halftime.
 
The second half started just like the first, with the teams exchanging 3-pointers, but unlike the first half, the Vikings went on a run, a 12-0 run that put them in front 52-50, a lead that would reach as many as five points at 59-54 with 14:13 remaining.
 
The Warriors came back to tie the game at 61-all, but the lead remained with the Vikings until the 4:39 mark, when a Devin Whitelow layup put Winona State up 74-73, the first of six lead changes in the final five minutes.
 
The last of those lead changes came from the free throw line, when Adam Dykman made both of his foul shots to put the Vikings up for good at 80-79 with 2:22 left. From there, the Augie got a stop and a Jordan Spencer 3-pointer for a pour points lead, the second of three triple from Spencer in the last three minutes of the game, the last of which put the Vikings up 86-81 with 45 seconds left to secure the win.
 
John Warren and Steven Schaefer led five Vikings in double figures with 16 points each, with Warren adding eight rebounds. Marcus Asmus also grabbed eight boards to go with his 14 points. Spencer finished with 12 points and seven assists, which gives him 899 in his career. Matt Cartwright finished with an even 10 points to round out the double figure scorers for the Vikings.
 
Five Warriors also scored in double figures, with Kevion Taylor leading the way with 18. Corey Jeffs added 13, Devin Whitelow 12, Caleb Wagner 11 and Tomy Gathje 10 points in the loss.
 
The Vikings look to end the regular season with a weekend sweep, when then they travel to Fayette, Iowa on Saturday to take on Upper Iowa at 6 p.m.
 
NOTES: Friday's game marked the 2,196th game in program history … Augustana leads the all-time series with Winona State, 16-12, with the Warriors holding a 7-5 advantage at home … the same five Vikings started all 27 games this season … Augustana led at some point in 26 of the 27 games this season … five Vikings scored in double figures for the third time this season and for the second straight game on a Friday … both teams finished a perfect 7 for 7 from the free throw line … Spencer's 12 points gives him 1,634 for his career, which moves him into 11th all-time at Augustana, eight points shy of cracking the top-10