Box Score

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – In a game where every possession proved vitally important, the Northern State University Wolves gave up 19 turnovers, which the Augustana College Vikings turned into 26 points en-route to a hard-fought 82-77 victory Saturday night in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball action.

The loss, which comes on the heels of Friday night's 2-point heartbreaker at Wayne State, drops the Wolves to 3-4 overall and 0-2 in NSIC play.  NSU started off the season 3-0, but has now dropped its last four contests.

The Vikings, meanwhile, picked up their first NSIC victory and are 6-1 on the year and 1-1 in NSIC games.

Augustana controlled much of the first half, leading by as many as seven points before NSU closed the stanza on a 6-0 run to pull back to within one.  The Wolves also scored the first bucket of the second half to take their first lead of the game at 34-33.

The two teams traded baskets and leads for the next six minutes of play before turnovers spelled NSU's demise.  The Wolves committed 11 of their 19 turnovers on the night in the second period, 10 of which came after the 14:00 minute mark

Augustana was able to capitalize on those miscues, then drained five of six free throw attempts in the final 30 seconds of play to seal the victory.  NSU fought back from a 10-point deficit with under five minutes left in the game, cutting the Viking lead to just two points after a Marty Gregor lay-up and free throw with 1:23 left to go, but they would get no closer as the Vikings managed to weather the storm and run out the clock.

NSU's Mitch Boeck led the way for the Wolves with 21 points on 13-of-13 shooting from the free throw line, and area that has been and up-and-down issue for the Wolves this season.  Redshirt freshman Collin Pryor was just behind with a career-high 20 points.  Pryor was 7-for-10 from the floor and helped the Wolves to a 44-28 edge in points in the paint on the night.

Derek Hoellein added 13 points, canning the team's only two 3-pointers of the night, both coming in the second half.  Marko Filipovic had 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench.

The Vikings countered with a 20-point effort from Cody Schilling and a balanced attack from the rest of the squad.  All 12 players who saw the court also found their way into the scoring column, with six of those scoring eight or more points.

The road does not get any friendlier for the Wolves, who head for Southwest Minnesota State on Friday and Minnesota State, Mankato on Saturday to complete a 6-game road swing.  Tip-off for both games is set for 8 p.m.