SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Augustana jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead and never looked back in earning a 97-75 victory over Southwest Minnesota State in NSIC men's college basketball on Thursday night inside the Elmen Center.
 
AU, now 2-0 in league play and 4-3 overall, made 17 of 24 3-pointers and finished the game shooting 61 percent.
 
SMSU drops to 1-1 NSIC and 2-4 overall. Mason Lund scored a team-high 20 points for the Mustangs with six 3-pointers. Mekhi Shaw and Jakob Braaten each added 15 points, while Micah Schlaak chipped in with 13 points off the bench.
 
SMSU finished the game shooting 39 percent (23 of 59) from the field, while making a season-high 13 3-pointers on 31 attempts.
 
Tameron Ferguson poured in a game-high 26 points and dished out 11 assists to pace the Vikings, which held a 32-28 rebound advantage.  
 
SMSU scored the first two points of the game but AU rebounded with a hot-start making two quick 3-pointers in building the early eight-point lead. The Vikings would use an 11-0 run, drilling three 3-pointers, to later push the lead to 21-7 with 12 minutes left in the half.
 
SMSU had its own run using the 3-ball with Landon Pokorski, Braaten and Lund connecting from long-range to pull to within 21-16 at the 8:21 mark.
 
AU answered back with a 10-1 spurt over a two-plus minute stretch to build the advantage back to double digits at 31-17. SMSU outscored AU 9-6 in the final five minutes of the half to cut the deficit to 37-26 at halftime.
 
SMSU was limited to 35 percent shooting in the opening half, while AU shot 48 percent connecting on seven 3-pointers.
 
AU started the second half making it first four shots, including three 3-pointers in building its largest lead at 48-32 with 16 minutes left in the game.
 
SMSU would not go away and used a 7-0 run capped by a Lund 3-pointer to cut the AU advantage to 48-39.
 
SMSU would later make the score 53-45 following two Aeron Stevens free throws with 11:54 left but once again AU had its own run to push the score to 65-48 with eight minutes left and never looked back in earning its 13^th victory over SMSU in the last 14 meetings.
 
After playing its first six games away from Marshall, SMSU will return to action on Saturday with its home opener versus Wayne State starting at 2 p.m. inside the R/A Facility.