With 10:48 left in the game Nate Swetalla hit a basket in the lane to give Augustana a 56-32 advantage, its largest of the evening. Over the next seven minutes the Clarke defense would hold the Vikings to just three field goals. Fortunately for head coach Grey Giovanine’s charges all three of those were of the three point variety courtesy of Delp, who up until that time had made just one of three point attempts.
Augustana went nearly five minutes between Swetalla’s basket and Delp’s first three pointer. When he nailed that one at 5:41 with an assist going to Jeff Becker, the lead had been trimmed to 15 (56-41). When he hit his second at 4:17 the margin was down to 12 (59-47) and the third one came at 3:22 with the advantage at 13 (62-49). Alex Washington assisted on the second three pointer and Drew Wessels dished off on the third.
Those shots by Delp, who ended with a game high 22 points, were enough to help the Vikings hold off Clarke. The Crusaders got 15 points from DeMonte Bynum, with 13 of those coming in the final 7:53 of the game.
Besides Delp, Augustana had Nate Swetalla in double figures with 15 and Chandlor Collins added 10. The Vikings owned the backboards with a 38-24 advantage as Dain Swetalla led the way with six and Nate Swetalla and Shaun Rose each chipping in with five.
After shooting just .424 (14-33) from the floor in the first half, including .100 (1-10) from three point range, Augustana bounced back and shot .545 (12-22) from the floor and .462 (6-13) from beyond the three point arc. The Vikings led 35-21 at halftime and forced Clarke to shoot just .211 (4-19) from three point range for the game.
Augustana is now 5-1 on the season and Clarke is 0-6.