On Saturday, the Vikings struggled against North Park University and were not able to prevail as they lost their first CCIW game 78-87.
Part of what Giovanine said that has been influencing games is that the team only has two seniors and is predominantly a young team.
“The team isn’t a fully cohesive mature unit yet and that was on full display tonight,” said Giovanine.
Starting off the game, North Park won the tip-off, but the first points went to sophomore forward Pierson Wofford for Augustana. Also towards the beginning, senior forward Jacob Johnston had a big block to keep North Park from scoring.
Johnston also had an emphatic dunk to keep Augie trailing by 1 going into the second half as the score was 34-33 North Park.
As the second half started, it was North Park’s turn to score first. They went on a 9-0 scoring streak, which was stopped by a three point shot from Augie’s junior guard Dylan Sortillo.
The Augie Vikings then went on a streak of their own, scoring 9-4. The game held steady for a while with North Park in the lead.
Going into the last nine minutes of play, NPU had 7 fouls against them, putting Augustana into the bonus. Despite having this advantage, Augie was struggling to put points up on the board.
North Park began to pull away as they had and sustained a double digit lead starting at 13:13 minutes left in the second half. Augustana was able to pull out of this major deficit with three minutes remaining as they trailed by eight.
Then as soon as the score was in the single digits, the score went back to double digits. It soon became a fight for Augustana to stay within a single point deficit and they were unable to get past the eight point gap.
Wofford said what played into the deficit was how Augie struggled on defense during the second half.
“We didn’t stop them three times in a row during the second half, which is a big deal in winning the overall game,” said Wofford.
For the next game, Wofford said the team hopes to work together more.
“We’re not a team that hangs their heads,” said Wofford. “We’re going to keep at it, and we’re going to hold each other accountable in order to win the next game.
The Vikings next game will be against Wheaton College at home. It will start at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
