Rock Island, IL – Augustana College used a hot shooting first half to pull away from the Prairie Fire and post an 84-49 non-conference victory on Tuesday night.

The Vikings (7-1) made 18-of-31 (58%) shots in the first 20 minutes, including 5-of-9 (55%) from 3-point range, as they built a double-figure lead at 14-4 at the 13:18 mark.

Knox (1-6) cut the Augie lead to 14-7 on a 3-pointer by sophomore Armand Stricklin (Lee Summit, MO, Lee Summit West) with 11:34 to play in the opening half.  The Vikings responded with five straight points and increased the advantage to 19-7 with 11:00 remaining.

Junior Eric Miller (Villa Park, IL, Willowbrook) made a jump shot on the next Knox possession to pull his team within 10 at 19-9.  After Augustana built its lead to 30-13 with 4:28 in the half, Miller knocked down a trey – trimming the Vikings’ advantage to 30-16.

A 9-0 run by Augustana gave the hosts the biggest lead of the half, 39-16, with 1:32 before the break.  Sophomore Mitch Murphy (Bushnell, IL, Bushnell-Prairie City/Avon) connected on a 3-pointer and junior David Jones (Denver, CO, Colorado Academy) followed with a jumper to get the Prairie Fire within 18 points at 39-21.  Mark Roth gave the Vikings a 42-21 lead with a 3-point basket five seconds before halftime.

Knox shot 9-of-23 (39%) in the first half and 3-of-11 (27%) from behind the 3-point line.

Augustana scored the first four points of the second half to build the lead to 46-21.  Murphy sank a 3-point basket on the next Prairie Fire possession.  Jones converted a 3-point play with 12:37 left in the contest to draw Knox within 21 points at 54-33. 

A 5-0 run by the Vikings gave them their biggest lead at 59-33 with about 10:30 to play.  Augustana led by as many as 38 points as they outscored the Prairie Fire 42-28 in the second half.

Augie finished the game 32-of-57 (56%) from the floor and sank 7-of-14 (50%) 3-pointers.  After shooting just 1-for-2 from the foul line in the first half, the Vikings went 12-for-15 (80%) over the final 20 minutes.

Knox was 9-of-25 (36%) shooting in the second half against the sticky Augustana defense and wound up 18-of-48 (37.5%) overall.  The Fire knocked down 7-of-20 (35%) 3-pointers while struggling at the free throw line, finishing 6-for-14 (43%).

Jones led Knox in scoring with nine points.  Senior Lukas Shaw (Portland, OR, U.S. Grant) had eight points and five rebounds and Murphy contributed seven points.

Roth paced Augustana College with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from 3-point distance.

The Prairie Fire resumes Midwest Conference play at Monmouth College on Sunday at 5:00 p.m.  The Fighting Scots (1-5, 1-3 MWC) have lost three straight games.

The Knox at Monmouth contest will be streamed live on the Web at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/monmouth.portal#

Follow Prairie Fire athletics on Twitter