The court was full of Christmas-attired fans awaiting the moment Augustana’s Basketball team would redeem themselves against UW Stevens Point.
 
During the 2014-2015 basketball season, it was down to Augustana’s men’s basketball and Stevens Point for the NCAA Division III national championship.
 
Stevens Point won their fourth national championship 70-54. However, the table turned for them in the newest game against Augustana with Augustana winning 81-58.
 
Coach Grey Giovanine said, “We felt like we’ve made some real strides since the last time we played them and I think that proved to be true tonight. Last year they had four senior studs…this year we’re more mature and had more of a veteran team and that’s reflected on how the team’s played.”
 
Even though the beginning of the game started off slow, the Vikings quickly pulled into the lead at the end of the first half with the score of 39-26.
 
Hunter Hill lead the team with a solid twenty points in the entire game. Ben Ryan followed making sixteen and Tayvian Johnson making thirteen points.
 
With two minutes before the game ended, Vikings Giovanine started to dig deep into the bench giving players such as Pierson Wofford and Jacob Johnston the opportunity to score some points for their team.
 
Hill said, “Right now we’re playing as a complete team. We’ve got a tough group of guys that have been together for a couple of years now. We’re defending well as a team and we really stand together and grind out games…we’re just focusing on getting better everyday and I think we got better today.”
 
This achievement adds up to 315 wins for Giovanine’s record, making him the new winningest coach.
 
“I was thinking mostly about what a great win it was going to be.” said Giovanine, “Reaching milestones is really humbling and I think about all the great young men I’ve had the privilege to coach here, all the tremendous staff that I’ve worked with in support of our administration as I told our team, ‘it’s something that should be shared with everyone’.”
 
“He[Giovanine] never really has a bad day.” said Hill, “He brings the energy in practice. He wants every single one of our guys to get better. He’s also all about relationships too, it’s not just about the court. Alumni come back and they have great relationships to him. It’s a testament to the work he puts in and how he leads guys and that’s why he got that milestone.”
 
Augustana has of now a 4-0 record for the start of the season. Next Saturday, December 12th, the Vikings will head down to St. Louis, Missouri to compete against Washington University.