Vikings finish 25-6; win share of fourth straight CCIW title; reach NCAA Division III Tournament quarterfinal round for the fourth year in a row; Nolan Ebel earns All-America honors; Chrishawn Orange nets team MVP honors for second straight year; Dylan Sortillo sets career records for games played and wins played in

The Augustana men's basketball program enjoyed another tremendous season in 2017-18. Coach Grey Giovanine's Vikings finished 25-6, won College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin regular season and tournament championships and reached the elite eight of the NCAA Division III Tournament. The CCIW title was the program's fourth in a row—a feat accomplished for the first time since Augustana's run from 1971-74 and for just the fourth time in the league's 72-year history. The Vikings' fourth straight NCAA Division III quarterfinal appearance marked just the second time a team has achieved that (Potsdam State 1979-83) in the tournament's 44-year history.

Augustana was led by its guard trio of senior Dylan Sortillo (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa), and juniors Nolan Ebel (Regis Jesuit HS, Denver, Colo.) and Chrishawn Orange (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.). Ebel was a fourth team All-America selection by D3hoops.com and both he and Orange earned all-region honors. Ebel and Orange were also first team All-CCIW picks, while Sortillo was named to the second team.

The Vikings opened the season with wins over Heidelberg, Calvin and Alma before heading to Champaign, Illinois for an exhibition date with the University of Illinois. The Illini won by a score of 96-62, but that setback for Augustana paled in comparison to losing Pierson Wofford (Springfield Lutheran HS, Springfield, Ill.) for the season to a knee injury. The junior forward was averaging 14.7 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game at the time.

Giovanine's bunch rallied to close the calendar year with seven wins in eight contests. The Vikings logged CCIW victories over North Central and at Carthage and impressive non-conference wins over UW-Stevens Point (74-58) and Washington University (72-57) away from home. The lone loss was 95-89 in double overtime at UW-Oshkosh.

Augustana opened the new year by dropping two of three league games, but righted the ship and won eight of its next 10 to enter the regular season finale versus Elmhurst at 19-5 overall and 11-4 in the CCIW. The Vikings rallied from a double-digit deficit in the final eight minutes to defeat the Bluejays 79-77 at Carver Center and earn a share of the conference title, as well as home court advantage for the CCIW Tournament.

Building on its late season momentum, Augustana won a rubber match with Wheaton (72-64) in the semifinals and completed a three-game sweep of North Central with a 77-74 win in the championship game. The CCIW Tournament title was the Vikings' sixth since 2007 and earned Giovanine's outfit the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Back at home for NCAA play, Augustana rallied from a 19-point first-half deficit to down Greenville—the nation's highest scoring team—123-111 in the highest scoring game in Carver Center history. The next night, the Vikings dispatched Hope 95-83 to reach the sectional rounds, which would also be held in Rock Island.

An 86-78 win over John Carroll in the round of 16 earned Augustana another shot at UW-Oshkosh with a trip to the final four on the line. Unfortunately, the second meeting yielded nearly the same result as the first, with the Titans needed just a single extra session to win 95-88 this time. UWO's Ben Boots scored 18 points in the final eight minutes and finished with 36, countering a brilliant 38-point effort by Ebel.

Ebel led the Vikings in scoring (16.4 ppg), three-point percentage (.470) and assists (117) this year and shot .506 from the field and .768 from the free throw line. His 508 points are 12th-most in a single season at Augustana and his .470 three-point percentage this year ranks sixth in school history. He became the first Viking ever to post a 500-point, 100-assist season and erupted for an average of 26.0 points per game in NCAA Tournament play on shooting percentages of .558 from the field, .579 from three-point range and .833 from the free throw line.

Orange, who was selected as Augustana's MVP for the second year in a row, finished second on the team in scoring (15.6 ppg), rebounding (4.5 rpg), three-point percentage (.438) and steals (25) and third in field goal percentage (.494) and assists (78). In NCAA tournament play, he averaged 16.0 points, a team-high 6.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game and shot .513 from the field. He'll enter his senior season as the 16th-leading scorer in school history with 1,103 points.

Sortillo (12.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg, .402 3p%, .833 ft%, 83 ast) closed out a remarkable career that included school records for games played (119) and wins played in (98). In addition, he's the first CCIW player in 44 years to play on four conference championship teams and the only one ever to play on three CCIW Tournament champions. The only Viking ever to play in two national championship games, his 19 NCAA Division III Tournament contests are third-most all-time, exceeded only by Washington University's Aaron Thompson and Zach Kelly (20 each from 2007-10). Sortillo ranks 19th on Augustana's career scoring list with 1,075 points and his 184 three-point field goals are third-most in school history.

Junior forward Brett Benning (Dakota HS, Davis, Ill.) and sophomore center Micah Martin (Iowa City HS, Iowa City, Iowa) rounded out Giovanine's lineup for most of the season. Benning averaged 10.7 points per game and led the Vikings in rebounding (5.0 rpg), free throw percentage (.889—6th-best in school history) and steals (26). Martin (7.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, .594 fg%, 52 blk) led Augustana in field goal percentage and blocked shots. He's led the CCIW in blocks each of his first two seasons and is the school record holder with a career average of 1.96 rejections per game.

Giovanine's rotation also included senior center A.J. Dollmeyer (Polo HS, Polo, Ill.) (3.5 ppg, 2.2 rpg, .569 fg%), junior guard Joe Kellen (Rockford Lutheran HS, Rockford, Ill.)—the team's Defensive Player of the Year—sophomore center Donovan Ferguson (Downers Grove South HS, Darien, Ill.) (3.2 pg, 3.7 rpg, .603 fg%, 33 blk), freshman forward Carson Frakes (Rockridge HS, Illinois City, Ill.) (2.8 ppg, 3.7 rpg, .538 fg%, .400 3p%, .739 ft%) and sophomore guard Lucas Simon (Notre Dame HS, Chicago, Ill.) (2.3 ppg, .379 3p%, 33 ast).


2017-18 CCIW MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS

TEAM	CCIW	W-L	PCT	Overall	W-L	PCT
AUGUSTANA		12-4	.750		25-6	.806
Illinois Wesleyan		12-4	.750		19-7	.731
North Central		11-5	.688		19-8	.704
Wheaton		10-6	.625		17-9	.654
Carthage		8-8	.500		13-12	.520
Carroll		8-8	.500		12-13	.480
Elmhurst		6-10	.375		13-12	.520
Millikin		4-12	.250		11-14	.440
North Park		1-15	.063		5-20	.200

2018 CCIW Tournament
Carver Center—Augustana College—Rock Island, Illinois

Semifinals—Friday, February 23
(3) North Central 70, (2) Illinois Wesleyan 64
(1) AUGUSTANA 72, (4) Wheaton 64

Championship—Saturday, February 24
(1) AUGUSTANA 77, (3) North Central 74

2017-18 AUGUSTANA SUPERLATIVES
CCIW TOURNAMENT: Only school to qualify for every CCIW Tournament (13 consecutive)
D3HOOPS.COM NATIONAL RANKING: 5th in final poll
D3HOOPS.COM ALL-AMERICA: Nolan Ebel (4th team)
NABC ALL-CENTRAL DISTRICT: Chrishawn Orange (2nd team)
D3HOOPS.COM ALL-CENTRAL REGION: Nolan Ebel (2nd team); Chrishawn Orange (3rd team)
CCIW ALL-CONFERENCE: Chrishawn Orange (1st team); Nolan Ebel (1st team); Dylan Sortillo (2nd team)
CCIW ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE: Austin Elledge, Joe Kellen, Lucas Simon, Nic Uhlir
CCIW TEAM STATISTICAL LEADERS: Field goal Percentage—.486
CCIW INDIVIDUAL STATISTICAL LEADERS: Blocked shots—2.07 bpg, Micah Martin
NCAA TOP 20 TEAM RANKINGS: Free throws made—528 (3rd); Free throws attempted—731 (5th); 3-point percentage—.402 (11th); Field goal percentage—.488 (20th)
NCAA TOP 50 INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS: Free throw percentage—.889, Brett Benning (14th); Minutes played—990, Chrishawn Orange (25th); Blocked shots—52, Micah Martin (29th); Free throws made—139, Nolan Ebel (35th); Free throw attempts—181, Nolan Ebel (36th); Blocked shot per game—1.86, Micah Martin (38th)
INDIVIDUAL SCHOOL RECORDS: Games played, career—119, Dylan Sortillo; Blocked shots per game, career—1.96, Micah Martin
AUGUSTANA SINGLE-SEASON TOP TEN: 3-point field goals—68, Dylan Sortillo (5th); Free throws made—139, Nolan Ebel (5th); Blocked shots—52, Micah Martin (5th); Blocked shots per game—1.86, Micah Martin (5th); 3-point percentage—.470, Nolan Ebel (6th); Free throw percentage—.889, Brett Benning (6th); Free throws attempted—181, Nolan Ebel (6th); 168, Chrishawn Orange (10th-T); Games played—31, Brett Benning, Nolan Ebel, Chrishawn Orange, Brett Benning (10th-T)
AUGUSTANA CAREER TOP TEN: Games played—119, Dylan Sortillo (1st); Blocked shots per game—1.96, Micah Martin (1st); 1.04, Donovan Ferguson (4th); Free throw percentage—.862, Brett Benning (2nd); 3-point percentage—.452, Nolan Ebel (3rd); 3-point field goals—184, Dylan Sortillo (3rd); Blocked shots—112, Micah Martin (3rd)

2017-18 MEN'S BASKETBALL AWARDS
MVP: Chrishawn Orange
Defensive Player of the Year: Joe Kellen
Leading Rebounder: Brett Benning
Junior Varsity MVP: Jarrett Tribble