St. Louis, Mo., Dec. 1, 2019 – Senior guard Matt Nester connected on his only bucket of a game, a three-pointer with 38 seconds left, as the No. 15-ranked Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team held on for a 73-70 win over No. 17 Augustana College (Ill.) in battle of top-20 teams Sunday at the WU Field House in St. Louis.
WashU won its fourth-straight game to improve to 6-1, while Augustana had its four-game win streak snapped and fell to 4-2.
Leading by two with less than a minute to go, Nester was left open in the corner for the three which sealed the win. Augie would miss an eventual game-tying three at the buzzer.
Junior guard Jack Nolan had a career-high 28 points on 11-of-21 shooting, while sophomore forward Justin Hardy added 20 points and seven rebounds. Senior center Hank Hunter had 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting with seven boards.
WashU shot 44.4 percent (28-63) from the field and outrebounded Augie 34-24. The Bears also had a 19-8 advantage in second-chance points.
Augustana hit five of its first six shots and led 11-10 early in the game. Nolan drilled a three and then junior Payden Webb followed with a triple to give WashU the 16-15 lead.
The Bears scored eight-straight points to take a 24-17 advantage and force a 30-second timeout by Augie. Hunter have five points, including a three-point play, in the run.
Late in the half, the Bears put together a 7-0 run to take 37-26 lead. Nolan had 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the first half as WashU shot 51.9 percent (14-27) from the field and held the 37-31 lead.
Nolan took over the game midway through the second half. He hit a step-back three, then followed with a wing three, and added a lay-up as WashU led 54-49 with 10:50 to play.
Augustana gained the three-point advantage (59-56) with 8:19 to play after a 10-0 run. The Vikings held a three-point lead (65-62) lead with 4:14 to play, but WashU scored eight-straight to take the lead for good.
Pierson Wofford led Augie with 18 points, while Austin Elledge (14) and Jacob Pauley (11) also scored in double figures. The Vikings shot 58.3 percent (28-48) from the field but had 16 turnovers.
WashU hosts Rhodes College on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m.
BEAR NOTEBOOK: Augustana leads the all-time series with WashU 7-6 … WashU has outrebounded all seven of its opponents this season … The Bears are 3-3 against top-25 opponents in head coach Pat Juckem's two years … Senior guard Jonathan Arenas had a game-high eight rebounds.