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Augustana shot a season-high 59 percent as the Vikings earned a 92-82 win over Southwest Minnesota State University on Saturday night in Marshall. Cameron McCaffrey led the Vikings (18-6, 14-6 NSIC) with 28 points and freshman Casey Schilling added a season-high 17 points in the win over the Mustangs (15-12, 12-8 NSIC).
With his 28 points, McCaffrey moved into third on the all-time scoring list at Augustana. McCaffrey has scored 1,797 career points and passed Mark Smed who scored 1,795 career points from 1979-83. The senior has scored 20 or more points in a game 12 times this season and 33 times in his career.
Alex Richter scored 14 points and Daniel Jansen added 12 points and 7 rebounds. Jansen finished the game 8 of 16 from the charity stripe.
Lavione West led the Mustangs with 23 points while Matt Zager pitched in with 21. SMSU shot 51 percent from the field, including 7 of 19 from 3-point range.
SMSU jumped out to an early 11-4 lead after an early 7-0 run that started with a 3-pointer by Zager. The Mustangs scored on back-to-back possessions following a block Barnes and a fastbreak bucket.
SMSU held a 14-6 lead with 14:35 to go in the first half before the Vikings went on an 11-6 run to cut the deficit to three at 20-17 after consecutive 3-pointers by McCaffrey and Schilling.
Augustana continued to claw back into the game eventually taking a lead at 23-22 after layup by Schilling with 8:10 to play in the half. SMSU answered with a 3-pointer by Zager that sparked a 10-2 run for the Mustangs as they took a 29-25 lead.
Augustana got right back into it when Richter drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing to tie the game at 31 but SMSU’s Miller popped a three on the next possession to put the Vikings back in front. Augustana took a 41-38 lead into the locker room at the half after Huisken and Schilling hit 3-pointers in the final three minutes of the half.
Each team shot over 50 percent from the field in the first half. SMSU finished 14 of 24 (58 percent) while the Vikings were 16 of 29 (55 percent) from the field. The Vikings finished the half 6 of 13 from 3-point range led by Schilling, who was 2 of 2 from 3-point range. Schilling finished the half with 10 points on 4 of 4 shooting while McCaffrey added 11 points.
Smith and Zager each had 11 points in the first half for SMSU. Zager was 4 of 5 from the field knocking down three shots from behind the arc.
SMSU took over the lead 12 seconds in to the second half after a 3-pointer by Zager. After two tie scores the Mustangs took a 54-51 lead with 14:53 to play in the second half on a bucket by Lavione West.
With the Mustangs leading 56-53, McCaffrey drilled his second 3-pointer of the game for the sixth tie score of the contest at 56.
Daniel Jansen helped the Vikings take a four-point lead with 9:08 remaining in the game. The freshman hit two free throws and a bucket to put the Vikings in front 62-58.
West brought the Mustangs within two at 64-62 with a big putback dunk but McCaffrey answered with a 3-pointer to keep the Vikings in front by five at 67-62.
From there the Vikings were able to push their lead to eight points after Jansen converted the 3-point play hitting the basket and his free throw to put Augustana in front 76-68. After a 5-2 run by the Mustangs, Jansen hit consecutive free throws to keep the Vikings in front at 80-74 with 3:45 remaining in the game.
The Vikings pushed the lead to eight heading into the final two minutes of the game after field goals by Jamall Taylor and Schilling. McCaffrey added the exclamation point on moving into third all-time on the scoring list at Augustana slamming one home on a fastbreak to put the Vikings up by 10 at 86-76.
The Vikings closed-out the game hitting six free throws to seal the 92-82 victory.
Augustana returns home next weekend to host Upper Iowa and Winona State in the final regular season games.
Courtesy: Tim Evans, Sports Information Director, Augustana College
