Hunter Hill scored a game-high 17 points to lead Augustana to a 78-74 win over Illinois Wesleyan in the CCIW Championship game. (WJBC photo)
By Bryer Lehr
ROCK ISLAND— The Illinois Wesleyan Titans played much better than they did 17 days ago when a chance at the CCIW regular season title was up for grabs. Unfortunately, the result was the same in the CCIW postseason tournament final against Augustana. The Vikings (23-4) had all five starters in double figures to knock off IWU 78-74 Saturday night and grab an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. The Titans (19-8) have now dropped all six of their appearances in the championship game of the CCIW postseason tournament.
Augustana rushed out to an early lead behind point guard Hunter Hill, who scored 8 of his 10 first half points to push the Vikings out to a 24-13 lead. The Titans hit four three-pointers, including a pair from freshman Brady Rose, to cap a 22-9 spurt that saw IWU take a 35-33 lead after a Joel Pennington sank two free throws. The lead was short-lived as Augustana went on a 13-4 run of their own to take a 46-39 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, it was the Titans who came out of the locker room hot. Mike Marietti knocked down a pair of jumpers to begin a 12-3 run, which was capped by a Dylan Overstreet jumper that knotted the game at 49. The teams went back and forth for most of the second half before Jawann Straugter went on a four-point run of his own to give Augustana a 76-72 lead with 2:32 remaining. Trevor Seibring got a layup to get the Titans back within two, but were unable to take advantage of the Vikings missing 2 of 4 free throws down the stretch.
Hill had a game-high 17 points to lead the Vikings. Dylan Overstreet (seven assists) and Seibring each had 14 points to lead the Titan. Sodemann and Alec Bausch were also in double figures for IWU with 11 points apiece.
Illinois Wesleyan will now wait to see its fate when the field of the NCAA Division III Tournament is revealed on Monday.
