SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The Augustana men's basketball team used a balanced effort to knock off No. 16 Minot State 77-67 on Thursday night in the Sanford Pentagon.

The win was the first ranked victory for the Vikings since Dec. 9, 2022. The victory also extends the Viking win streak to six while putting a halt to the seven game win streak of the Beavers. 

Augustana advances to 13-7 overall and 8-6 in the NSIC, while Minot State drops to 15-4 overall and 10-3 in NSIC action. 

Isaac Fink led all scorers with 23 points while knocking down four 3-pointers and grabbing five assists. Jadan Graves scored 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting while tallying seven rebounds and five assists. Caden Hinker chipped in with 14 points and seven rebounds.

Caden Kirkman dropped nine points, Arhman Lewis poured in eight points and dished five assists, and Akoi Akoi led the team with nine rebounds. Brayson Laube had three steals to lead a defensive effort that forced the Beavers into 17 turnovers.

While the teams were close to even from the field, it was the rebounding battle, second chance opportunities, and offensive aggression that put the Vikings on top. AU outrebounded MISU 43-29 on the night. Included in that total was a 10-3 advantage on the offensive glass, translating to a 13-5 advantage in second chance points. The game was also fairly even in terms of fouls called, but the Vikings shot 10 more free throws while earning an 18-10 advantage in made free throws. 

The Vikings rolled from the jump, scoring nine of the first 12 points to open the game with Graves, Fink, and Lewis helping get the engine started. The Beavers scored the next eight points before a Fink jumper and Hinker free throws reclaimed an AU lead at 13-11. 

The Beavers scored the next six points from there, but Lewis and Kirkman answered the MISU run to tie the game at 17-17 with 10:05 to play in the first half. The Beavers eased ahead 22-19 before Fink and Graves sandwiched an MISU free throw with 3-pointers to leap ahead 25-23 with 7:24 left in the half. 

The run continued with four straight Hinker points to push the Vikings ahead by six, but an 8-2 Beaver run evened the game back up at 31-31. Fink would knock down a three with 29 seconds remaining before a pair of MISU free throws closed the first half with AU ahead 34-33. 

In all, the first half saw three ties and three lead changes while both teams shot 50 percent from beyond the arc. Fink closed the half with 11 points and went 3 of 4 from deep, and Hinker added eight points and six rebounds. 

The second half saw an offensive explosion by the Vikings to open as AU tore off a 15-4 run in less than seven minutes to increase its lead to 49-37. Over the stretch, Fink added six more to his total while the team shot 6 of 10 and held the Beavers to 1 of 10 from the field. 

A 4-0 MISU run was quickly countered by a 9-0 Viking run as a Graves jumper kicked it off and was soon followed by an ankle-breaking pump fake and midrange dagger from Sam Rensch. A Laube steal on the other end led to a fast-break flush from Kirkman and after Kirkman knocked down a free throw, Hinker closed the run with a jumper as the Vikings saw their lead balloon to 58-41 with 8:47 remaining. 

With its lead down to 58-46, AU knocked down four free throws and saw Graves drain a deep 3-pointer to grow the lead back to 65-46 with 6:39 left. That ended as the largest lead of the game for the Vikings, as the Beavers chopped at the deficit the rest of the game, but not enough to come back. 

The Vikings return to the floor next Friday, Feb. 2, at 5:30 p.m., hosting Minnesota Duluth inside the Sanford Pentagon.