Trailing 54-36 with 11:06 remaining in the second half, the Bears mounted their comeback. A lay-up and a three-pointer by junior Tyler Nading trimmed the lead to 60-52, and then a steal by senior Danny O’Boyle resulted in a lay-up by Nading to make it 62-55 with 1:33 left.
A steal by senior Troy Ruths resulted in a three-pointer by sophomore Cameron Smith to trim the lead to 62-58. Smith then stole the inbounds pass and Ruths scored on a put-back to cut it to 62-60 with 40 seconds left. Brett Wessels was fouled on the ensuing play, and sank two free-throws to seal the victory for the Vikings.
Nading scored 15 of his team-high 20 points in the second half, while sophomore Aaron Thompson added 17 points on four three-pointers. Ruths, a first-team preseason D3hoops.com All-America selection, was held to seven points, snapping his string of 35-consecutive games scoring in doubles figures. Ruths also added two blocks, moving him into sole possession for sixth place on the time list with 102.
The Bears, who were playing without junior point guard Sean Wallis, struggled to get into their offensive sets the entire first half. The Bears missed six of its first seven shots from the field, but a deep three-pointer from Thompson cut the Augustana lead to 8-6 with 13:16 remaining.
A 6-0 run by the Vikings pushed the lead to 20-8, and then Brett Wessels drained a three-pointer to make it 23-10. Washington U., which committed 12 turnovers in the first half, trimmed the lead under double-digits at 25-18 after Thompson connected from beyond the arc for his third triple of the game.
Augustana (2-0) ended the half on a 10-2 run to take a 39-22 halftime advantage. Washington U. shot 42.1 percent (8-19) from the field in the first half, and was outrebounded 15-7. The Vikings hit 63.0 percent (17-27) from the field and had an 18-3 advantage in points off turnovers in opening half.
Washington U. committed 22 turnovers in the loss, and was held to 39.6 percent shooting from the field. The Vikings had 29 points off turnovers, and outrebounded Washington U. 35-29.
Washington University (2-2) returns on action on Sunday, Nov. 25, against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Tip-off it set for 2 p.m. at Grant Gymnasium on the campus of Webster.