PORTLAND, Ore. -- Lewis & Clark exchanged leads with No. 1 Augustana (Ill.) in the opening six minutes before the visiting Vikings closed the opening half on a 13-0 run en route to an 83-50 victory at Pamplin Sports Center on Sunday night.
The scoring streak moved Augustana up 47-24 at halftime after the Pioneers were within 29-19 with 5:06 remaining in the half.
Lewis & Clark hadn't played a game since losing 87-80 at Whitman on Dec. 5. The Pios were supposed to play four days later at Evergreen St., but a landslide on Interstate 5 prevented the team from getting to Olympia, Wash.
"We played a really good team," said junior guard Cannen Roberson. "They went on a little run at the end of the first half and it was tough to bounce back from that. They hit a few more shots, but there were a lot of learning pieces that we can learn from and move forward."
The Vikings held an advantage from 3-point range and the free-throw line. Augustana made 6 of 14 attempts from three, while Lewis & Clark made only 3 of 20. The Pios made 42 percent of their free throws, while Augustana put in 61 percent.
Overall, Augustana held a shooting advantage of 57 to 41 percent.
Lewis & Clark suffered some long scoring droughts, going without a field goal for stretches of 2:55, 4:30 and 3:37 in the first half and 3:24 in the second half.
Dylan Sortillo led all scorers with 14 off the Augustana bench, which outscored Lewis & Clark's 48-12. Ben Ryan and Hunter Hill added 11 points apiece out of the Vikings' starting lineup.
Roberson was the only Lewis & Clark player in double figures, putting in 6 of his 8 shot attempts for 13 points. Jonathan Boddie (pictured right) and Alex Jones scored nine points each, shooting a combined 7 of 11. The rest of the team went 8 of 32 from the field.
Augustana took its first lead on a Ryan bucket at the 17:33 mark of the opening half, but Lewis & Clark regained the edge twice through the first seven minutes of the game. The last Pioneers lead was when Roberson scored on a full court pass from Cory Coombe to put Lewis & Clark up 10-9.
Carl Appleton, who played in his third game of the season, fed a pass up to Roberson for another score at the halfway point of the first half, which ended Lewis & Clark's nearly three-minute scoring drought. Augustana still led 18-14, and went on to score nine of the next 10 points including a dunk by Jacob Johnston. The Vikings had numerous two-hand slams in the contest.
Following a 3-pointer from Jones, the only one made by Lewis & Clark on six tries in the half, Augustana answered with a Sortillo three, who hit another at the first half buzzer, to bookend the Vikings' 16-2 run going into halftime.
Jason Luhnow, who entered the game leading the Pioneers in scoring with 17.3 points per game, made his first 3-pointer in the first two minutes of the second half. Lewis & Clark made just one more in 12 tries the rest of the game. He finished with five points, a season low.
Markel Leonard also scored a season low with two points on 1 of 7 shooting. He was averaging over 10 points per game coming into the match-up with Augustana.
"We have a few guys coming back including two football players [Appleton and Kristian Grobecker], and we've had a few injuries, so it is hard to get a good rotation," said Roberson. "All the guys are good basketball players and we play pretty well together. We just need to get it all going for 40 minutes."
The Pioneers play their final game of the calendar year on Tuesday hosting Redlands at 2 p.m. Lewis & Clark closes out the non-conference schedule at Portland Bible on Jan. 2, unless the team's game against Evergreen St. is successfully rescheduled.
Lewis & Clark beat Redlands 66-62, the Pios' last win, on Nov. 21 at the Mission Inn Kickoff Classic in Santa Cruz, Calif.
"They're a good, big, solid team. They rebound really well and have some good players. It'll be a good test," said Roberson.
Northwest Conference games resume when George Fox plays the Pios in Portland on Jan. 8.
Other Northwest Conference Scores - Sunday
Whitman 95, Millsaps 52
Pacific 70, Occidental 56
Western Oregon 85, Willamette 50