SIOUX FALLS – Trevon Evans scored 19 points but the University of Sioux Falls Men's Basketball Team (17-10, 12-9 NSIC) fall to Augustana (17-10, 13-8 NSIC), 81-65, in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference South Division battle at the Elmen Center on Friday night before 3,027 in attendance.

With the loss the Cougars will fall to fourth in the NSIC South at 12-9. They sit a game behind Augustana which improved to 13-8 on the season. The Cougars, which still has won 4-of-6 from Augustana, will conclude regular season play at Wayne State on Sunday at Rice Auditorium on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Then USF will host a first-round NSIC Tournament playoff game for the second straight year.

The Cougars had struggles on the offensive end as they shot just 21.9 percent in the first half on 7-of-32 shooting and trailed 50-22 at the break. In the second half, USF improved their offensive wares by hitting 44 percent on 16-of-36 as they outscored the Vikings, 43-31, to cut a 28-point lead to 16 by game's end. Overall, USF was 23-of-68 for 33.8 percent. USF hit 10-of-32 for 31.3 percent from three-point range.

USF outrebounded Augustana, 43-39, and committed just 10 turnovers but the Vikings had a solid shooting night. In the first game USF has played at the Elmen Center in five years, the Vikings outshot USF and made 49.2 percent from the floor on 29-of-59 shooting. AU hit 17-of-32 shots in the first half for 53.1 percent with 7-of-12 from three-point range. Overall, the Vikings, which had 21 assists on 29 made baskets, connected on 11-of-22 from three-point range.

Evans led USF with his 19 points and added three assists. He made 4-of-10 from three-point range. Evans now has reached double digits in all 27 games this season and 31 straight overall with 53 in his career. He now has 1,241 career points and sits 19^th all-time at USF. With four made triples, he has 151 in his career which places him in a tie for eighth all-time at USF with Matt Correia (1993-97) with 151. With 84 made three-pointers this year, Evans ranks fourth all-time at USF for a season and just one from third (85, Lance Winter, 1991-92).

Senior guard Aaron Rothermund, who hit 3-of-7 from three-point range, also reached double digits with 11 points while grabbing five rebounds. Senior Drew Guebert had eight points and three rebounds as he passed 1,400 points (1,403) in his career in NSIC games and now has 1,931 career points (third, all-time at USF). Also for USF sophomore forward Austin Slater provided six points and seven rebounds.

The Vikings received 23 points from Michael Schaefer and a double double of 13 points and 10 rebounds from Trevor Hanson.

Game Breakdown –
AU jumped out quickly to a lead as a three-point play from Schaefer gave the Vikings a 10-5 lead with 17:09 to play in the first half. USF stayed close early and trailed just 15-10 with 13:41 to play as Devin Green scored on a lay-up. But AU had a 14-4 run to lead 29-14 at the 8:29 mark of the opening half.

USF answered with a three-point play from redshirt freshman Chase Grinde (8:02, 1^st half). However, AU had another big run as they closed the half on a 21-to-8 burst and led 50-22 at the halftime break.

In the game in which AU led from start to finish, the Vikings had 15 points from Schaefer in the first half while USF had six from Guebert.

USF came out with a lot of energy in the second half and opened on a 19-9 run as they cut AU's lead to 59-41 at the 14:49 after Evans knocked in a three of an assist from Green.

After the Vikings up the lead to 22 points (67-45, 10:00, second half), the Cougars again made a charge at their city rivals. With a 13-to-5 run the Cougars drew within 72-58 at the 5:02 mark when Troy Houghton made a lay-up for USF. However, USF, which lost senior standout Guebert to fouls after playing just 20 minutes, couldn't sustain the comeback and Vikings extended its lead to 21 at 81-60 with 3:06 to play on a pair of foul shots by Eric Tiedman.

USF closed the margin to 16 (81-65) but lost the game as the teams split the season series after USF won 77-73 on Jan. 5 at the Stewart Center.