Augustana Vikings Beat Duluth, Move to Pentagon for NSIC Qtrs

The Augustana Vikings certainly earned their trip to the Sanford Pentagon this season, after a thrilling victory on the road over 6th-seeded Duluth on Wednesday Night.

The Vikings now will gear up for a matchup against 3rd-seeded Moorhead, which will come Sunday Night at 7:00 in the NSIC Quarterfinals.

Per GoAugie.com:

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The Augustana men's basketball team kept its season alive on Wednesday night, gutting out a 74-63 wire-to-wire victory at Minnesota Duluth on Wednesday night inside Romano Gymnasium.

All five starters reached double figures, combining for all 74 points. Sam Rensch had 19 points to lead all scorers while adding four rebounds, three steals and two assists.

In their first career postseason games, Tameron Ferguson and Bennett Fried lived up to the moment. Ferguson scored 17 points on 7 of 11 shooting while nabbing a team-high three steals and Fried recorded his second career double-double with 15 points on 6 of 8 shooting and 12 rebounds.

In his final NSIC Tournament run, Akoi Akoi made sure it would live to see another game after scoring 12 points and grabbing eight boards. The senior added two steals while shooting 50 percent from the field and is now just four points away from 1,000 in his career. Tanner Te Slaa rounded out the starting lineup with 11 points on 5 of 10 shooting.

AU shot a scorching 55.6 percent from the field (30 of 54) while holding UMD to 41.1 percent (23 of 56). The Vikings held advantages on the fastbreak (12-5), points off turnovers (17-12) and points in the paint (46-38). The most impressive stat may have come on the offensive glass. Although UMD had a 10-4 advantage in offensive rebounds, AU outscored them 11-8 on second chance points.

Akoi and Rensch got the Vikings started with a layup and a 3-pointer to give AU a 5-0 lead. After four UMD points, Ferguson went on his own 5-0 run to put the Vikings in front 10-4 with 16:20 to play.

After a Bulldog layup brought them back within four, Fried converted an and-one and Ferguson knocked down a jumper to put the Vikings in front 15-6 witn 14:34 left in the half.

The Viking lead was cut to eight with just over 11 minutes to play in the second half. Fried converted another and-one and Te Slaa got to the rack for a layup to tack on insurance.

A 9-2 march from the UMD got them back within six but in the final 5:15 of the first half, AU ran off a 13-3 run, highlighted by seven Rensch points, to give them a 42-26 advantage at the half.

Rensch scored 15 points on an extremely efficient 5 of 7 shooting from the field and 4 of 5 from the free throw line in the first half. Ferguson added nine points on 4 of 6 shooting while Fried had eight points and eight rebounds.

The Vikings shot 58.6 percent from the field while the Bulldogs shot 42.3 percent from the floor and just 1 of 6 from the free throw line as AU raced to the 16 point first half lead.

Over a minute of scoreless basketball welcomed the second half before Rensch got out in front off a UMD missed basket for a layup to give AU its largest lead of the night at 44-26. A 9-2 Bulldog jolt got them back within 11 but Ferguson got up and finished a left-handed lay-in to get the lead back to 13 at 48-35 with 14:41 to go.

It wasn't the end of the Bulldogs yet as they rattled off a 19-9 run to close its deficit to 57-54 with 5:40 to play. Akoi ended the run with a layup to go back ahead by five and after UMD went 1 of 3 from the free throw line, Te Slaa and Fried combined for a 5-0 run to inflate the lead to 64-55 with 3:19 remaining.

After another UMD trip to the free throw line resulted in just one point, Rensch got to the hoop at the end of the shot clock for a layup and Ferguson added a steal and score to deliver the dagger. Seven of the final 13 points to close the game came at the free throw line as the Vikings closed out the 11-point victory.

 

The 11th-seeded Vikings reach the NSIC Quarterfinals at the Sanford Pentagon for the fifth time in the last six seasons where they will take on No. 3 seed MSU Moorhead on Sunday at 7 p.m. AU moves to 12-17 overall while the fifth-seeded Bulldogs, who ranked No. 6 in the latest NCAA Central Region ranking, fall to 20-9 on the season.