A strong defensive effort to start Saturday's men's basketball contest in Rock Island unfortunately went by the wayside as North Park suffered a 73-58 loss to host Augustana College.

The Vikings forced a turnover a minute and stifled Augie into seven in the first seven minutes, which allowed the visitors to nab a 4-0 lead and later an 11-6 advantage after a three-pointer from Joe Biko. But Augustana found its groove and used its high-powered offense to spawn a 12-0 scoring run over a three-minute span to turn the deficit into an 18-11 lead after a Hunter Hill three-pointer. AC then built its advantage to as much as 11 points in the half at 32-21 until North Park trimmed the deficit to eight at halftime on 3 of 4 free throws from senior Aaron Weaver.

Freshman sensation Juwan Henry lit up the scoreboard as he improved his season scoring average to 19.4 points per game with a 28-point performance, his second best this season. Henry connected on 11 of 23 field goals and had three steals to go along with a pair of rebounds. Weaver meanwhile, was equally as impressive as he finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.

Although Augustana used a balanced scoring attack and had a trio of double-figure scorers, the Vikings kept things close until the final three minutes of the ballgame. Augustana pushed its lead to 15 at 58-43 after a Ben Ryan jumper with 7:34 remaining, but North Park fought its way back into the game with a 13-4 scoring run which cut the deficit to 62-56 after a Henry jumper out of a NP 30-second timeout. AC turned the game into a free throw battle however in the final 1:20 and converted on all eight of its attempts to earn the victory.

Nate Rummel added eight points for North Park while Hill led Augustana with 16 points.

North Park (3-14, 0-5) returns to action Wednesday when it travels to Wheaton College for a 7 p.m. contest with the Thunder.