At the end of a tightly contested first half in which the score was tied six times, the Vikings took the lead for good on a basket by McAdams-Thornton with 4:03 to play. Augustana led 27-24 at intermission and never trailed in the second half. With 8:11 left the lead was just four (49-45) but an 11-4 run put the Vikings ahead 60-49 with 3:50 left following a basket by Joe Caricato off a beautiful assist from McAdams-Thornton. Any hopes for a St. Ambrose comeback were dashed when Dain Swetalla banked in a three point field goal as the shot clock buzzer was going off with 1:41 left to make it a 12 point margin (66-54).
Swetalla scored 13 points and grabbed a team high 11 rebounds as Augustana won the battle of the boards by a margin of 38-30.
St. Ambrose was led in scoring by Andrew Bryant, who had 14 points and a game high 13 rebounds. The Bees were held to .400 (22-55) shooting from the floor by the aggressive Augustana defense, including just .344 (11-32) in the first half. Included in that was a 3-12 (.250) showing from three point range.
Augustana moved to 3-0 on the young season and the victory was the 100th for Viking head coach Grey Giovanine during his tenure at the school, which began in 1999. It was also the fourth in the last five meetings between the two Quad City colleges in this spirited rivalry.
St. Ambrose saw its record even at 4-4.