St. Louis, Mo., Dec. 12, 2015 – The No. 20-ranked Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team came up short in an upset bid over No. 1 Augustana College with a 70-67 loss at home Saturday night at the WU Field House in St. Louis.
Augustana improved to 5-0 with the win, while WashU dropped to 6-2. The loss for the Bears was its first of the season at home.
Junior forward Clinton Hooks scored a career-high 20 points, while sophomore forward Andrew Sanders (13 points, 10 rebounds) and sophomore guard Kevin Kucera (12 points, 10 assists) each recorded double-doubles. Senior guard Luke Silverman-Lloydadded 10 points.
WashU shot 47.4 percent from the field (27-57) for the game, including 51.7 percent (15-29) in the second half. The Bears had 22 assists and 14 turnovers, and hit just 9-of-16 (56.3 percent) from the three-throw line in the loss.
Augustana started fast scoring the first eight points of the game, and led 13-2 with which forced a WashU timeout. The Vikings took its largest lead of the game at 19-5 with 14:51 left on a jumper by Chrishawn Orange.
Hooks canned a three-pointer to highlight a 7-0 run which trimmed the Augie lead to single digits (19-12). Augustana got the lead to double figures with less than six minutes to play, but a 10-0 run by WashU trimmed the advantage to two (34-32).
Augustana scored the final seven points of the half to take a 42-32 lead. WashU shot 42.9 percent (12-28) from the field, but hit just 1-of-6 from beyond the arc.
A 20-4 run by WashU gave the Bears a 59-51 advantage with 10:05 left in the contest. Silverman-Lloyd and Hooks had each had threes during the run.
A three-point play by Hunter Hill tied the game at 61-61 with 5:20 to play, and then he nailed four-straight free-throws to make it 67-61. Hill had seven points during the decisive 16-2 run.
Hills canned two more free-throws to extend the lead to 70-67 with 3.4 second left. The Bears threw the ball to half court and called timeout. WashU inbounded the ball and Hill immediately fouled Kucera. He missed the front end of the 1-and-1 and Jawan Straughter got the rebounded to end the game.
Hill had 20 points and seven assists to lead Augie, while Ben Ryan had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. The Vikings shot 42.1 percent (24-57) from the field in the win, and hit 17-of-21 free-throws. Augie outrebounded WashU 39-33, and had 12 steals.
WashU closes out first semester play Thursday, Dec. 17, at Fontbonne University. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. and will be broadcast live on the Bear Sports Network.
BEAR NOTEBOOK: WashU leads the all-time series with Augustana, 5-4, and the teams met for the first time since 2011 … WashU is 4-1 at home this season … The 2015 NCAA Division III Runner-Up Women's Soccer Team was honored at half … Augie led for 30:51 of the 40 minutes in the contest.