CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. – Augustana completed a 2-0 weekend at Thomas More College's Coach Jim Connor Classic with a 91-69 win over Rust Saturday afternoon. Senior guard Mark Roth (Washington HS, Metamora, Ill.) scored a career-high 17 points off the bench to lead the Vikings. Coach Grey Giovanine's third-ranked club improved to 4-0 on the year while the Bearcats fell to 1-4.

Much like in Friday's win over the host Saints, Augustana jumped on the opposition early Saturday, taking leads of 10-2 on a Ben Ryan (Washington HS, Washington, Ill.) layup, 19-5 on a conventional three-point play by Griffin Pils (Libertyville HS, Libertyville, Ill.) and 25-8 on a Roth three-pointer. Ryan pushed the lead over 20 points (35-14) with a jumper at the 7:33 mark over the first half.

A pair of Curtis Stuckey free throws with 7:15 left and an old fashioned three-point play by O'Darius Lowe at 6:42 marked the first time in the contest that Rust scored twice in a row without a Viking answer. Junior Jawan Straughter (Plainfield East HS, Bolingbrook, Ill.) eventually split a pair of free throws with 21 seconds remaining as Augustana took a 44-29 advantage to the locker room at the half.

For the second day in a row, the Vikings opened the second stanza with an 8-0 run. Junior point guard Hunter Hill (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) started things with a three-pointer. Straughter scored off a Tayvian Johnson (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) steal and assist and Ryan added a field goal and one of two free throws to make it 52-29.

The Bearcats briefly whittled the deficit under 20, but a Roth trey at the 15:56 mark made it 58-36 and Rust wouldn't get closer than 20 the rest of the way. A Jacob Johnston (Erie HS, Cordova, Ill.) layup with 5:58 remaining gave the Vikings their biggest lead of the afternoon at 80-47.

Senior post Nic Hoepfner (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) added 13 points and tied Straughter and junior Brandon Motzel (Carmel HS, Buffalo Grove, Ill.) with a team-high six rebounds. Ryan ended up in double figures as well, with 11 points, while Hill, Johnson and sophomore Michael Hoekstra (Bishop McNamara HS, St. Anne, Ill.) each scored eight. Johnson led the Vikings with six assists, while Pils dished out five.

Augustana had another hot-shooting outing, hitting 35 of 60 (.583) attempts from the field, including eight of 20 (.400) from long range, and 13 of 18 (.722) from the line. The Vikings limited the Bearcats to 24 of 70 (.343) shooting from the floor and outrebounded Rust by a 43-29 margin.

Giovanine's bunch will play its home opener against Knox on Saturday, November 29. Tip-off at Carver Center is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.