With the game tied at 73-73 in the final minute Washington forced a turnover when Tyler Nading stole the ball under the Augustana basket with :24 remaining. The Bears called a timeout with :12 left to set up a final shot but on the inbound pass Wessels flashed in front of his Sean Wallis, his counterpart at point guard and stole the ball. He was fouled by Wallis with :11 remaining in the game. After a time out by Washington, Wessels calmly sank both free throws to give the Vikings a 75-73 lead. Nading missed a shot in the final flurry that would have tied the game and Dain Swetalla grabbed to rebound to preserve the victory.
Augustana had to withstand a furious rally by the Bears over the final 8:05 of the game. A three point field goal from the corner by Pat Brusveen gave the Vikings a 66-54 lead. However, Washington went on a 19-7 run that eventually tied the game at 73-73 on a jumper by Aaron Thompson. During that stretch Wallis scored six points and Nading added six as well to spearhead the effort.
Early in the game the visitors were in control, never trailing in the first half. Twice during the first 20 minutes the Bears had leads of 10 points (41-31 at 3:20 and 43-33 at 2:39). Baskets by Oliver Rorer and Matt Pelton at the end of the first half allowed Augustana to trim the advantage to 43-37 at halftime.
The Vikings first lead in the game came with 16:09 left in the game when Nate Swetalla drained a three point field goal to give them a 50-48 lead thanks to a 13-5 run coming out of intermission.
In the first half Washington shot a sizzling .630 (17-27) from the floor, including six of eight from three point range. Danny O’Boyle had 13 of those first half points, including three of four from three point range but he injured an ankle in the second half and never returned to the game. Wallis led the Bears, now 3-1 on the year, in scoring with 20 points and he also had five assists and two steals while center Troy Ruths added 15 but after making six of his first nine field goal attempts he missed four of his last five. Washington shot just .292 (seven of 24) from the field in the second half.
As has been the case all season long, Augustana relied on balance with four players in double figures. Dain Swetalla led the way with 16 points while Oliver Rorer and Brusveen came off the bench to tally 11 and 10 respectively. Also in double figures was Shaun Rose with 10 points. The Vikings held a 34-24 lead in rebounding with Rorer pulling down eight and Rose grabbing seven.