Augustana 77 Wayne State 55

            Augustana College erased a 31-23 halftime deficit by outscoring Wayne State 54-24 in the second half as the Vikings rallied for a 77-55 win over the Wildcats Saturday evening in Northern Sun Conference men's basketball played at the Elmen Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  Augustana is now 7-5 on the season and 4-2 in the NSIC while WSC drops to 4-6 and 1-5 in league play.
            The game was nearly a carbon copy of the first contest between the two teams in Wayne on November 25^th when Augustana held a 25-23 halftime lead, then outscored the Wildcats 45-22 in the second half to post a 70-45 win.
            With the exception of Augustana scoring the first point of the game, Wayne State led the entire first half.  WSC took a 9-1 lead on a Ryan Rolfzen 3-pointer with 14:02 to play in the first half.  After the Vikings pulled within three at 9-6, WSC scored the next eight points and took a 17-6 lead following a Jamie Pearson jumper at the 9:54 mark. 
            A Ty Bauschek trey with 6:13 to go in the half gave WSC their biggest lead of the night at 25-11.  The Wildcats maintained a double figure lead until the final two minutes of the half as Augustana pulled within eight at halftime at 31-23.
            The second half was all Augustana.  The Vikings opened the half with an 11-2 run and took a 34-33 lead on two Daniel Jansen free throws with 16:34 to play. 
            WSC stayed close and the final tie of the game was 43-43 on a Patrick Kurth tip-in with 11:03 to play.  The Wildcats were still within five at 56-51 with 6:05 remaining following a Kurth layup.  But the Vikings put the game out of reach with a 16-2 run and pulled away for a 77-55 win.
            Wayne State had three players in double figures as Adol Aluong, Ty Bauschek and Patrick Kurth each scored 10 points.  For Kurth, it was a career-high in points on 5 of 7 shooting.
            The Wildcats finished the game 25 of 61 shooting for 41 percent.  WSC was just 3 for 20 behind the 3-point line and was just 2 for 3 at the foul stripe.
            Augustana's top scorer was Daniel Jansen with 18 points.  Casey Schilling added 16 with Evan Pierce and Yuriy Malashenko scoring 11 points apiece.  The Vikings made 18 of 32 shots in the second half and finished the game 27 for 61 from the field for 44.3 percent.  Augustana was just 4 for 18 behind the arc and 19 for 25 (76 percent) at the charity stripe.
            The Vikings won the rebounding battle over Wayne State 42-32.  Schilling grabbed 13 rebounds with Jansen adding 10 caroms while Bauschek grabbed a career-high nine rebounds with Kurth grabbing eight.
            WSC had 10 turnovers in the game to nine by Augustana.             
                Wayne State is off for the holiday break until Friday, January 3^rd when the Wildcats visit Minot State.