SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Augustana men's basketball team closed the nonconference portion of its schedule with an 88-48 win over Nebraska Christian Monday night inside the Elmen Center.
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The Vikings shot 47.5 percent from the field in the win to improve to 5-1 on the season. Nebraska Christian played the contest as an exhibition and remains at 5-3 on the year.
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Of the Vikings 38 missed shots, they corralled 20 offensive rebounds and turned those into 22 second-chance points while piling up 42 points in the paint.
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Sophomore
Michael Schaefer totaled a game-high 13 points while sophomores
Dylan LeBrun and
Matt Todd each tallied 11 points.
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Augustana took a 9-0 lead over the first three minutes of action. Junior
Jameson Bryan swiped a steal and pushed ahead before lobbing a pass to LeBrun for a thundering alley-oop. That forced a Sentinel timeout but didn't slow Augie down as the lead stretched 16 points at the midway point of the half at 20-4. The Vikings entered halftime leading 38-20.
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In the opening minutes of the second half, Augustana again saw an alley-oop, this time Bryan sent a ball in the air towards Schaefer, who threw it down for a 53-22 advantage.
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The Viking lead continued to grow and reached as high as 44 points when
Carter Rynda sank a 3-point basket with under three minutes to play.
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Bryan tied a career-high with six assists while
Eric Tiedman totaled a career-best eight points. The Vikings totaled 23 assists on 34 made field goals and outrebounded the Sentinels 48-32.
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Nebraska Christian shot 18-of-55 from the field for 32.7 percent and made just 5-of-21 3-point field goal attempts.
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Augustana looks ahead to the start of Northern Sun action on Saturday at Wayne State. After that contest, the Vikings return home on Dec. 6 and 7 to host Winona State and Upper Iowa inside the Sanford Pentagon. The Vikings close the Elmen Center portion of their schedule with a 2-0 mark.
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--GoAugie.com--
