SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Augustana men's basketball team cruised to an 82-60 victory Friday morning over South Dakota Mines as part of the East/West Challenge. The game, played at the Sanford Pentagon, counts as a neutral-site contest for Augustana who is now 2-1 on the year.
Sophomore
Zac Johnson poured in a career-high 24 points on 11-of-15 shooting while three others hit double-digit scoring including
Isaac Fink who tallied his third-career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
It was all Augustana from the start, jumping out to an 11-0 lead before the Hardrockers chipped in their first points of the game, nearly six minutes into the contest. Of those first 11 points, five came from the hands of Fink and two each from
Akoi Akoi,
Ryan Miller and
Bennett Otto.
The Hardrockers were able to whittle the Vikings' lead back down to three points late in the opening half on a jumper from Kolten Mortenson. Augustana then hit the gas pedal again before entering halftime holding a 34-27 lead.
Although the lead never stretched beyond nine points and hovered around the seven-point separation, the game never felt in doubt. A layup from
Caden Hinker gave AU its biggest lead of the game at 15 points with AU leading 61-46.
A 10-0 run from South Dakota Mines immediately cut into that deficit and the Hardrockers got the Vikings' lead down to just four points on a Jaxon Lloyd layup with 6:06 remaining in the game. However,
Jadan Graves found an open
Sam Rensch for a 3-point basket to shift the momentum.
That momentum shift was then seismic as Rensch tapped the ball away on defense to Hinker, and Hinker passed right back to Rensch for another open 3-point basket as Augustana's lead was back to 10 points at 70-60 with 4:19 on the clock.
That 6-0 run turned into an 18-0 run to end the game as the Vikings' defense did not allow another made basket for the remainder of the game in the 82-60 win.
After Johnson's 24 points, Graves scored 15, all on 3-point makes, while Miller also had 15 points. Graves and Fink each had five assists as Augustana totaled 22 assists on 33-made baskets.
Augustana concludes the East/West Challenge Saturday with another 11 a.m. start. The Vikings face Black Hills State at the Sanford Pentagon.
--GoAugie.com--
