SALEM, VA.— The Augustana men’s basketball team will end their now 27-4 season playing University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the NCAA Division III championship game on Saturday at 2 p.m. central time, after grinding out a 68-48 win over the Beavers of Babson College late in the second half.
Head coach Grey Giovanine said that he thought Babson was one of the most resilient opponents that his team has faced all season, refusing to fold despite struggling with only 19 points to Augustana’s 32 after the first half.
“I thought we had a terrific first half game plan and was just executed perfectly by these guys, especially on the defensive end holding them to 19 points,” said Giovanine.
During the first 20 minutes of play, the Vikings hit the board first with a jumper by junior forward Ben Ryan for two points. From then on, they never allowed the beavers to take the lead in the first half.
Only one of Babson’s players, sophomore forward Joey Flannery, accumulated points in the double digits, while the Vikings’ points were more evenly dispersed throughout the nine players who made appearances within the first 20 minutes of play.
Although the Vikings had a 13 point lead after the first half, the Beavers turned their playing around after halftime.
“And then the second half, obviously they made some adjustments and made a great run,” said Giovanine. “We talked in one of the timeouts that we have been in a lot of grinded out games, and that’s what this was going to turn in to.”
Similar to the Vikings in the first half, the Beavers scored first with a layup by Flannery to cut Augustana’s lead to 11 points, making the score 32-21. In the next eight plays, the Beavers creeped up on Augustana by gaining 10 points, which resulted in a score of 38-31.
Babson finally created a 41-41 tie with a jumper by freshman forward Bradley Jacks, and soon after, took their first lead of the game at the 7:41 mark, with a score of 44-43.
After letting the Beavers make a comeback, the Vikings made one of their own, which began with junior guard Griffin Pils hitting a three-pointer that helped Augustana regain the lead and take back some momentum.
“We finished the game on a 22-1 run that was facilitated by our defense,” said Giovanine. “We stopped them six out of seven possessions I think, and then Griffin, Nic, and Hunter made big shots, which is what great players do on the biggest stage.”
Junior guard Hunter Hill scored twelve points during the second half, with Pils adding eight and Hoepfner making four.
Giovanine said that Hill, Pils, and Hoepfner  rose to the occasion to finish out the game, but in the minds of these three teammates, it was more of a matter of coming together as a team to bounce back.
“In tight game situations, we know we have to stick to our system and grind it out because teams aren’t going to fold,” said Hoepfner. “And, I think in accumulation with everything that we have went through in the last three years, as a group, has really allowed us to come together in those frantic situations when things aren’t going our way.”