ST. CLOUD, Minn. - An Akoi Akoi block in the final seconds of action helped lift the Augustana men's basketball team to a 71-69 road victory over St. Cloud State on Friday night inside Halenbeck Hall. 

The Vikings, winners of three straight, move to 6-8 overall and 3-5 in the NSIC while the Huskies fall to 8-7, 4-3. 

Akoi led AU with 15 points, five blocks and three steals while adding four rebounds. Tameron Ferguson scored 14 points on 5 of 10 shooting while grabbing five rebounds and dishing three assists. Tanner Te Slaa had 11 points and six rebounds while Kelton Coleman scored 11 off the bench. 

Augustana had nine blocks without getting a single shot of its own swatted. They held a 28-22 advantage in points in the paint and had half of the turnovers (6) that they forced (12).

SCSU saw one of its only leads of the game at 19:34 when they opened the scoring with a 3-pointer. Akoi followed with a personal 6-0 run and Bennett Fried hit a 3-pointer after a free throw from the Huskies to give AU a 9-4 lead through 3:19 of game time. 

Following three Husky points, Te Slaa scored five straight to increase the Viking lead to 14-7. SCSU was able to claw back within one but a Ferguson and-one and Sam Rensch jumper helped grow the lead back to 26-20 with 8:52 left in the first half. 

Leading by five, Augustana strung together scoring to get up to double digits. Ferguson got to the basket and made a layup, Rensch knocked down a free throw and Conner Kraft hit a jumper to go ahead 34-24. 

Six points separated the Huskies and Vikings with 1:45 remaining but a Fried free throw, Rebetez free throws and Coleman layup pushed the AU lead to 48-37 at the break. 

A 6-0 SCSU run opened the second half before a Fried dunk at the 16:50 mark put AU ahead 50-43. The Huskies scored seven of the next nine points before a Coleman 3-pointer turned the tides. Te Slaa followed with a jumper and after the Huskies got within five, Akoi scored four straight points to lead 63-54 with 7:57 remaining. 

In a game of runs, SCSU countered with seven straight points to get within 63-61. The next seven points were scored via the free throw line, with five going to the Vikings to go ahead by two possessions at 68-63. 

The Huskies stormed back from there, ripping off a 6-0 run to take a 69-68 lead with 41 seconds to play. Akoi ended up playing hero twice, first cashing in on a layup with under 20 seconds to play for the lead and then the game winning block to seal it. Malyk Rebetez knocked down a free throw to bring the game to its final score as SCSU's 3-pointer to win clanked off the mark. 

The Vikings look to keep it rolling on Saturday afternoon, traveling for a 5:30 p.m., tip-off against Bemidji State.