ROCK ISLAND, Ill. –Augustana outscored Millikin 15-2 over the final four minutes Saturday to defeat the Big Blue 73-65 at Carver Center. With the win, Coach Grey Giovanine's Vikings improve to 20-4 on the season and 10-3 in the CCIW and clinch no less than a share of the league championship. Augustana also locked up host duties for the 2015 conference tournament and can claim the CCIW title outright with a win at Wheaton on Saturday, February 21.
A conventional three-point play by Millikin's T.J. Sims gave the Big Blue their biggest lead of the night, 63-58 with 4:16 to play. As the clocked ticked under the 4:00 minute mark, Hunter Hill took a pass from Ben Ryan and buried a three-pointer from the left wing to pull the Vikings to within two. Over the next two minutes, Millikin's Zach Long and Nathan Biggs each split a pair of free throws sandwiched around an acrobatic Jawan Straughter layup and the Big Blue led 65-53 with less than two minutes to play.
Tayvian Johnson put back a Hill miss with1:40 on the clock to draw the Vikings even and after Biggs missed a pair of freebies, Hill drained an 18-footer from the right wing at 0:59 to give Augustana a 67-65 lead which it wouldn't relinquish. The hosts got stops on the next three Millikin possessions and Ryan, Griffin Pils and Hill each drained a pair of free throws in the last minute to ice the win.
The contest was close the entire night. A Hill three-pointer will 9:11 left in the first half put the Vikings up 22-15. That would be the biggest margin of the night prior to the final. The Big Blue battled back to take a pair of three-point leads, the last at 32-29 with 2:28 to play before halftime. Ryan hit a three from the left wing and scored in the paint and Nic Hoepfner dropped in a 10-footer from the left baseline to give Augustana a 36-34 lead going into the locker room. The first half saw 10 lead changes and six ties.
The second 20 minutes shaped up much the same, with four ties and nine lead changes before the Vikings' big final push.
Hill finished with a game-high 24 points and was joined in double figures by Straughter and Pils, with a dozen each and Ryan, who had 10. Straughter also had a game-high three steals and Johnson had game highs of eight rebounds and two blocked shots. Augustana shot .439 from the field on 25 of 57, .261 (six of 23) from three-point range and .654 (17 of 26) from the foul line. The Vikings held a 36-30 advantage on the boards and committed just 11 turnovers to 16 for Millikin.
The Big Blue hit 23 of 46 (.500) field goal attempts, but just two of 12 (.167) from beyond the arc. Millikin was 17 of 25 from the free throw line and put four players in double figures. Guards Sims and T.J. Griffin scored 18 and 16, respectively and Biggs and Long added 14 and 11 off the bench.
Saturday's game also marked Senior Night for Augustana's class of 2015. The Vikings recognized seniors Hoepfner, Mark Roth, Alex Dziagwa, Danielius Jurgutis and Kevin Schlitter before the game. Jurgutis was unable to play Saturday due to an ankle injury and Schlitter's season was ended by a knee injury after four games.
Augustana wraps up the regular season on Saturday, February 21 at Wheaton. A win over the Thunder would lock up the outright CCIW title for Giovanine's crew.