In the first half Augustana put the defensive clamps on the visitors, limiting them to just .286 shooting on six of 21 from the floor. That led to a 27-16 halftime advantage and Elmhurst got to 16 by hitting a three point field goal from Chris Ihlendfeldt at the buzzer. The second half was a different story as the Bluejays shot .607 from the field (17-28) and Nick Michael came alive, scoring 20 of his team high 22 points in the final 20 minutes.
Harrigan, who leads the conference in scoring with a 24.1 per game average, scored his 27 points on a variety of ways. He was 10 of 18 from the floor, including five of 10 from three point range but he was an uncharacteristic two of six from the free throw line. His three point field goal with 14:11 left in the game gave Augustana its largest lead of the night at 42-26. However, with Michael scoring 17 of his team’s next 22 points, the Bluejays went on a 22-12 run and with 5:45 left the lead was down to six points after a basket by Chris Martin. It quickly went back to double digits when Drew Wessels hit a pair of free throws with 2:12 remaining to make it 60-50.
A basket by Elmhurst’s Brian Lee at 2:03, a rebound basket by Michael at 1:03 and a three point field goal by Martin at :39 whittled the advantage to 60-57. When Wessels missed two free throws with :17 left the Bluejays had a chance to tie it but Ihlendfeldt’s three point attempt at the buzzer was not close.
Harrigan was the only Augustana player in double figures as Jay McAdams-Thornton and Nate Swetalla were next in scoring with seven points each. Swetalla led the team in rebounding with seven and Mike Kolze was tops in assists with three.
Behind Michael’s 22 points, Martin had 12 and he hauled in a game high 11 rebounds and had four assists and six steals.
Augustana is now 12-1 overall and 2-0 in the CCIW while Elmhurst falls to 8-5 and 0-2.