SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Augustana men's basketball team nearly made a 16-point comeback but fell just short in a 73-65 loss Saturday to Minot State in the Sanford Pentagon. In the contest, senior Isaac Fink scored his 1,000^th career point, becoming the 37^th member of the club at Augustana.
 
Fink ended the game with a team-high 13 points while Ryan Miller and Akoi Akoi each added 12 points. Jadan Graves was the fourth Viking in double-figure scoring with 10 points.
 
Despite shooting 52 percent from the field in the first half, Augustana entered the intermission trailing by 10 points at 41-31. After Minot State (9-7, 6-6 NSIC) pushed a 16-point lead on two occasions, the Vikings embarked on their comeback attempt.
 
The latest in the game that the deficit occurred was with 8:21 remaining. Following a trio of made free throws, Miller scored on a layup to make it an 11-point game with 6:49 on the clock.
 
Akoi then went 2-for-2 at the charity stripe to make it a 64-55 score.
 
Minot State then hit a pair of free throws but was quickly answered by Akoi again, this time as Hinker sent a high-low pass under the basket for the easy layup.
 
As the Beavers tried to retake the momentum, the lead continued to shrink as Graves sank a 3-point basket and Eric Tiedman scored a pair of free throws for a 69-63 score with 3:20 remaining in the game.
 
However, that is the closest AU would get as Minot State held just enough strength to hold off the Vikings.
 
Augustana concluded the game shooting 42.9 percent from the field while Minot State was 46.3 percent.
 
Fink's night also included a near double-double as he tallied a game-high nine rebounds.
 
The Vikings return to the Augustana campus on Friday and Saturday for a weekend of games inside the Elmen Center. Augustana hosts Minnesota Crookston on Friday and Bemidji State on Saturday. In addition to the change in venue, the Viking men move to playing the first game of the doubleheader with Friday's game at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday's at 3:30 p.m.