ROCK ISLAND, Ill. -- North Park Men's Basketball suffered just their second loss in conference action on Wednesday night, dropping a 78-70 road contest in Rock Island against the Augustana College Vikings. 

Augustana shot the lights out of gym in the first half, making 15-of-26 (57.7%) from the field and a red-hot 6-of-9 (66.7%) from beyond the three-point line. 

Augustana, up by a shot at 20-17, further extended their lead on threes by Evan Ambrose and Matt Hawkins before Mike Hamilton and Chase Larsen found luck down low with a pair of layups. 

High energy play from Preston Bax III and Lance Nelson helped eliminate a double-digit lead for the Rock Island Vikings. Steals by Tristan Arneaud and William Bates led to a pair of layups, inching North Park closer, 37-31. However, a pair of free throws for Ambrose and steal-to-three by Tyler Knuth let Augustana regain a double-digit lead at halftime, 43-33.

Augustana built its lead to 14 four minutes into the second half by getting foul calls in their drives to the basket and converting on the ensuing free throws. They held that double-digit lead until 10:51 on the clock when a fastbreak layup for Rico Powell and free throws by Gardner dropped the lead to 54-46 in favor of Augie.

North Park continued to chip away at Augustana's advantage, swarming the ball at every opportunity to force mistakes out of Augie. A few of those mistakes led to a putback layup and free throw for Taijon Barry and a timely three by Powell to close the gap to a one-shot lead for Augie, 59-58, with 5:22 to go.

A free throw contest played out the next two minutes, alongside a layup for Barry to tie things up, 62-62. Unfortunately, the momentum swung back to Augie as the Rock Island Vikings reestablished a double-digit lead en route to the homestanding win.

Quick Hits:

• Augie's Ambrose led all scorers with 20 points
• Double-double for Augie's Dani Romero: 10pts, 10reb
• Powell had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds
• 15 points for Gardner, who was 6-for-8 from the free-throw line
• Three steals for Nelson and a pair of blocked shots for DJ Wallace

What's Next?

North Park (13-6, 8-2) hosts Carthage College (14-4, 8-1) this coming Saturday, Feb. 1, for a pivotal conference matchup. Tipoff in Carlson Gym, following the women's game, is set for 4:15 PM CT.