A Nate Swetalla put-back with four seconds left to play lifted Augustana College (ranked seventh in the latest D3hoops.com poll) to a 63-60 win over Elmhurst College.
Elmhurst (13-6, 5-3 CCIW) erased a four-point deficit in the final 1:30 of regulation to take a one-point lead with under 20 seconds remaining.
Augustana's Rick Harrigan missed a jumper in the closing seconds. The ball passed through a two pairs of Bluejay hands before falling to a wide open Nate Swetalla. Swetalla scored the put-back with four seconds left to put Augustana up 61-60.
The Bluejays' inbounds pass was stolen and Drew Wessels sank a pair of free throws to seal the win for Augustana.(18-1, 8-0 CCIW)
With the score tied at 55-55 with under 2:30 to play, Augustana took a four-point lead after a pair of free throws from Dain Swetalla and a steal and lay-up from Harrigan.
A Nick Michael 3-pointer from the corner trimmed the Vikings' lead down to just one with 1:30 to play. Chris Martin was fouled with 19 seconds to play. He sank both free throws to give Elmhurst a 60-59 lead and set up the dramatic finish.
Elmhurst led by as many as eight points in the first half (21-13), before Augustana opened up a 21-3 run to take a 34-24 lead with three minutes to play in the half. The Bluejays were held to without a field goal for almost an 11 minute stretch. Elmhurst closed the half with a 5-0 run to cut the deficit down to just 36-31 at halftime.
Augustana built a seven-point lead early in the second half, before the Bluejays opened up a 10-3 run to knot the score.
Elmhurst finished the game shooting only 34.5 percent from the floor (19-of-55) and 29.4 percent from 3-point range (5-of-17). The Bluejays sank 17-of-20 free throw attempts (85 percent).
Augustana shot 47.9 percent from the floor (23-of-48) and only 28.6 percent from beyond the arc (4-of-14). The Vikings converted 13-of-19 from the charity stripe (68.4 percent).
Michael led all scorers with 20 points while also pulling down a team-high eight rebounds. Martin finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Evan Patchett finished with 13 points off the bench.
Harrigan led Augustana with 14 points (5-of-16 from the floor). Jay McAdams-Thornton added 12 points. Dain Swetalla finished with 11 points and eight rebounds while Nate Swetalla added 10 points, including the game winner.
Elmhurst travels to Millikin University on Wednesday, February 1.