SIOUX FALLS (Augustana) – The Augustana men’s basketball team shot past the Golden Bears of Concordia-St. Paul Friday night, 86-59, inside the Sanford Pentagon. Isaac Fink led the way for Augustana with 22 points and eight rebounds. Ryan Miller and Akoi Akoi joined him in double-figure scoring with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
 
The win pushed Augustana to a 13-12 record on the season and to 9-10 in the NSIC. Concordia-St. Paul falls to 8-17, 6-13 in the league while also snapping a four-game winning streak.
 
Augustana battled to a 10-point halftime lead at 39-29, but to get there was truly a battle. With the score tied at 21 with 5:43 remaining in the half, Brady Helgren made a free throw to give AU the 22-21 lead. A possession later, Miller sank a 3-point basket, thanks to an assist from Fink, to boost the Vikings’ lead to four points.
 
The Golden Bears twice cut the lead to just three points but Fink changed that when he took a 29-26 lead and made it 32-26 with a 3-point basket from in front of the CSP bench. Jadan Graves drove the lane and found Fink open on the perimeter for the easy swish that set the tone for the remainder of the half.
 
The second half saw Augustana continue to extend its lead, reaching a high of 28 points as Augustana outscored the visitors 47-30 in the second half alone. That was aided by a 61.3 field goal percentage in the half where AU missed just 12 shots. Conversely, Augustana’s defense held Concordia-St. Paul to just 11 made field goals in the half.
 
For the game, AU shot 50.8 percent from the field and missed just two free throws, going 15-of-17 at the charity stripe. Graves made sure the Vikings had easy shots as he dished seven assists while Akoi added a career-best five assists.
 
Augustana remains home on Saturday hosting Minnesota State at 3:30 p.m. The contest is also Senior Day where Eric Tideman and Miller will be recognized pregame for their contributions to the Vikings’ program.