Katie Richard - Vikings Athletics

CAMROSE, Alta - Another instant classic featuring the Augustana Vikings and the Lakeland Rustlers. On Saturday night at the Augustana Gymnasium the Rustlers managed to come away with an 81-74 victory all while adding another chapter to the storied rivalry between these two programs. 

The Rustlers started the first quarter with a bang taking an 10-1 lead early into the contest. The Vikings managed to will their way back into the game and managed to close the gap as the quarter ended with the Rustlers lead cut to three. Whiles the Vikes offense took a little longer than anticipated to find their groove, Marc Parma was able to lead the charge with a couple of great rushes and managed to find the mesh bringing morale back onto the Vikings bench. Parma would end the evening as the leading scorer for his team for the night with 19 points to go along with 2 points and 2 assists.

Bahaeddin Salma and Andre McFadden would lead the Rustlers offense throughout the night, combining for 45 points between the two. With these rivals exchanging leads in the second, third and fourth quarter, it was no surprise to see the teams combine for 47 fouls at the end of the game. Late in the fourth quarter it was the Rustlers Salma who would hit a couple of separate clutch shots that put the game too far out of reach for the Vikings. With the win the Rustlers jump to a 9-3 record on the season, while the Vikings fall to 2-9 entering a weekend with the most important games of the year to date against the 4-8 Nait Ooks. The Ooks hold the 5th and final playoff spot in the ACAC North Conference. The Vikings will travel to Edmonton Friday January 19th and face the Ooks on Nait's campus at 8 pm. All the action can be found on ACACTV.ca 

Vikings Player of the Game - Jack Smilski (9 points, 13 rebounds, 1 assist)

Rustlers Player of the Game - Bahaeddin Salma (23 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist)