BEMIDJI, Minn. – For the fourth-straight game, the Augustana men's basketball team ran past its opponent, this time a 98-77 win at Bemidji State. The Vikings shot 54 percent from the field with four players in double-figures along with a 13-assist night from freshman Arhman Lewis.
 
The win improves AU's record to 11-7 on the season and evens its NSIC mark at 6-6. Bemidji State falls to 10-7, 6-5.
 
Once again, it was a fast start that propelled Augustana to victory. After briefly trailing 4-0, the Vikings went on a 15-0 run to take a 15-4 lead with the charge led by Caden Hinker with 10 points. Isaac Fink assisted on three buckets within the run that also sparked a season-high 13 assists on the night.
 
With the score at 18-11, the Vikings went on another strong run, this time a 14-2 string of points. With a more balanced run, six points came from Jadan Graves, four from Hinker, and two each from Fink and Caden Kirman. The 14-2 run pushed AU's advantage to 32-13.
 
The two squads then essentially played chalk for the rest of the half for a 50-30 halftime score.
 
Coming out of the break, the lead grew to 24 points at 64-40 with Lewis sinking a jumper in the paint. The two squads traded basket-for-basket in the second stanza with AU outscoring the home team 48-47.
 
The story of the game was AU shooting 54.3 percent from the field with 25 points from Fink, 21 from Graves, 19 from Hinker and 12 from the hands of Kirkman. The 21 points from Graves came on 8-of-11 shooting with five 3-point baskets while Hinker set a career-high after back-to-back games of tying his career high, previously 14 points.
 
Along with Lewis' career-best 13 assists, Fink's seven assists tied a career-best.
 
Bemidji State entered the game holding a +9.2 rebound margin and Augustana crushed that by outrebounding the home team by eight. After Hinker's eight rebounds, Brady Helgren secured seven to go with his seven points.
 
Augustana carries its season-best four-game winning streak to St. Cloud State on Saturday for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff from Hallenback Hall.