SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The Augustana Vikings men's basketball team closed the weekend in style, defeating the Grand View Vikings 96-58 on Saturday night inside the Elmen Center.
AU moves to 4-2 on the season, while the game was marked as an exhibition contest for GV.
Isaac Fink led all scorers with 21 points on 8 of 12 shooting while knocking down three threes, grabbing eight boards, and dishing five assists. Jadan Graves lit it up from deep, drilling five triples while scoring 17 points and handing out seven assists. Brayson Laube scored 15 points while making four three pointers, and Dallas Bear scored 12 points and grabbed three rebounds. Bennett Otto snagged four steals to lead the defensive efforts that forced the GV Vikings into 19 turnovers.
AU shot well throughout, knocking down 17 three pointers at a 41.5 percent clip and shooting 49.3 percent from the field. They also outrebounded GV 44-26, including a 15-3 advantage on the offensive glass that turned into a 20-2 advantage on second chance points, and outscored them 19-0 on the fastbreak.
The Vikings lit it up in the early going, scoring their first 15 points on 5 of 8 shooting from deep to take a 15-5 lead within the first five minutes. Laube and Graves each knocked down a pair, while Fink hit the other.
Akoi Akoi and Caden Kirkman each knocked down twos before the next GV bucket, but that would get erased by another three from Graves to take a 22-7 lead with 10:52 left in the half. The last time the game was within single-digits came at 7:01 left in the first half on a GV and-one, making the score 28-19.
From there, the Vikings scored 13 in a row, capped by a steal and slam by Akoi and a hustle play from Kirkman that turned into a layup from Fink to lead 41-19. AU led by a score of 45-25 late in the first, and a Bear three with just under 20 seconds remaining was the final tally to give the Vikings a 48-25 lead at the half.
Throughout the second half, the Vikings steadily extended their lead. A Fink three pointer at the 15:48 mark put them ahead 57-31. After GV cut the gap to 64-46, the Vikings raced to a 10-2 run, punctuated by a Graves three to lead 74-48. After a GV jumper, Bear and Laube went on a 9-0 run with three three pointers to lead 83-50.
After six points from GV, AU closed the game on a 13-2 run, highlighted by a pair of free throws by Hayden Brown, his first two points as a collegiate athlete, and three pointers from Arhman Lewis and Bear.
In a schedule change, the Vikings play at Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday at noon and at Minnesota Duluth on Sunday at 2 p.m. For more on the schedule change, click here.
--GoAugie.com--
