SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – It was home-sweet-home for the Augustana men's basketball team Friday in a 77-70 victory over UMary. The win snapped a four-game skid for the Vikings as they shot a season-best 57 percent from 3-point range in the victory.
The Vikings never trailed in the contest to move to 8-9 overall and 4-7 in the NSIC. The Marauders fall to 8-7, 4-7.
Augustana pirated a 17-4 lead to open the contest and stretched that to 18 points at 27-9.
Caden Hinker, making the first start of his career, made a jumper in the paint with 9:28 to go in the first half for the 18-point advantage.
UMary was able to cut that deficit in half at the intermission as Augustana went into the locker room with a 35-26 lead.
It took over nine minutes of the second half, but the Vikings again rebuilt its lead to a commanding margin, hitting a game-high 20-point lead when
Bennett Otto sank a 3-point basket with 10:24 on the clock.
Isaac Fink found Otto open for the trey and a 57-37 lead.
The Marauders again methodically chipped away at the Vikings' lead. The bulk of UMary's scoring came from Kam Warrens who used 17 second-half points to propel himself to a game-high, and career-high, 26 points.
The Vikings' lead got as low as six points, but Augustana stood strong at the end, hitting 8-of-10 free throw attempts to seal the 77-70 victory.
Augustana was led by
Ryan Miller's 17 points with 13 coming from Fink. In his start, HInker scored nine points while Otto had eight points off the bench.
Augustana was 11-of-19 from 3-point land, the second most made 3's this season while the 57.9 percent was a season-high. For the game, AU shot 44.1 percent from the field.
The Vikings are back at the Sanford Pentagon on Saturday hosting Minot State. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.
--GoAugie.com--
