Meet the team
Hunter Hill
Junior point guard, economics and business administration (management) major, Byron (Ill.) High School
Hunter Hill was team captain and MVP of both the basketball and football teams at Byron High School. At Augustana, he is the league’s Co-Most Outstanding Player and has been named to the 2015 CCIW All-Conference team. He also is co-winner of the Fred Young Most Outstanding Player Award for 2015 — only the fourth Viking in history to win the award.
“I always expect a lot of myself,” Hill said in an interview with the Rockford Register Star. “I’m always hard on myself... but my expectations are always the same. I always hold them high. And this team is so unselfish and balanced, it’s hard to take away one guy.”
Grey Giovanine
Coach Grey Giovanine is in his 16th season as the head basketball coach at Augustana. He has a record of 284-116 (.710) overall with the Vikings and 140-70 (.667) in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin. He spent six years at NCAA Division I Lamar University, where he compiled an 80-85 record from 1993-99. He has guided the Vikings to CCIW titles in 2002-03, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2010-11 and 2014-15, as well as conference tournament championships in 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2015.
Giovanine was named the CCIW’s Coach of the Year in 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2010-11 and again for 2014-15. He has a degree in psychology from Central Missouri State, where he graduated in 1982. At Central Missouri, he was team captain for the DII team ranked No. 1 for five weeks, and he was the leading free-throw shooter in the nation, with a percentage of .904.
Jake Norcia
Junior point guard, multimedia journalism and mass communication; communication studies minor, Highland Park IL..) High School
Norcia set the school record for steals in his senior year at Highland Park. As a first-year at Augustana, he helped bring the Vikings around after the top three scorers graduated in 2012.
He was named the Vikings’ junior varsity MVP in 2013.
A member of Phi Omega Phi, Norcia writes for The Augustana Observer and is the sports director at WAUG, Augustana’s student-run radio station.
Jawan Straughter
Junior guard, psychology, Plainfield East High School, Bolingbrook, Ill.
In 2013-14 Jawan Straughter was the Vikings’ outstanding defender. He is one of four Vikings players who have been named to the 2015 CCIW all-conference team.
Considered the stopper on the league’s top defensive unit, Jawan is regularly assigned to the opponent’s top perimeter player. In the sure-to-be historic March 7 game against DePauw University in the second round of the NCAA DIII tournament, Jawan made two free throws with five seconds left, giving the Vikings a 68-66 victory.
Griffin Pils
Junior guard, accounting, Libertyville (Ill.) High School
Griffin Pils was a multi-sport standout in high school, winning six varsity letters in three sports—soccer and tennis, along with basketball, for which he was the team captain and MVP.
With the Vikings earlier this season, Pils was dropped from the playing rotation. He went to work in shooting practice, and since then he’s been a key factor in the drive to the DIII championship.
Coach Giovanine said, “He’s become one of the keys to our success in the second half of the season and that’s a credit to him. The one thing about Griffin, he doesn’t fear the moment. He’s hit some awfully big shots for us and his defense has continued to improve.’’
Tayvian Johnson
Junior forward, biology/pre-medicine, United Township High School, East Moline, Ill.
Quad-Cities native Tayvian Johson has been described by coach Giovanine as an “outstanding all-around athlete.” Tayvian earned 10 varsity letters during his career at UT High School, where he also was a football wide receiver, and the conference triple jump champion as a junior. He has been named to the 2015 CCIW all-conference team. After winning the sectional conference on March 14 and advancing to the Final Four, Tayvian cut a piece of string from the winning basket and held it throughout the press conference that followed, saying, “All the things we did to get ready for this point in this season—is all right here in this little piece of string.”
Dylan Sortillo
First-year guard, major undecided, Bettendorf (Iowa) High School
Dylan Sortillo was all-state player and led the Bettendorf Bulldogs to a 24-2 record and third-place finish in the 2014 Iowa state tournament. During this first year at Augustana, he did not play in the first five games. He then turned the tide with a series of three consecutive three-pointers halfway through the January 17 win against Wheaton College.
In an interview for the Augustana Observer, Dylan said, “I didn’t think I would actually be playing my first year because we have so much talent at this high of a level, with such great coaching. My coaches and teammates have believed in me and had a lot of confidence in me to get in the game and make plays.”
Danielius Jurgutis
Senior guard, accounting, Downers Grove South High School, Darien, Ill.
Danielius Jurgutis was a standout athlete at Downers Grove South where he was team captain and helped lead the Mustangs to conference and regional championships.
Jurgutis was on the Augustana team’s trip in the summer of 2013 to Brazil to play a collection of professional and club teams.
That year the team started the season with a game at the University of Iowa (where Jurgutis scored a scored a team-high 15 points), and finished by advancing two rounds into the NCAA tournament.
Ben Ryan
Junior forward, Washington (Ill.) High School, biochemistry and pre-med.
Ryan was named to the first team of the Capital One Academic All-District team last year. He was named NCAA Division III National Freshman of the Year in 2012-13 by D3hoops.com and that year he was also the Midwest Region Freshman of the Year and the Rookie of the Year in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin.
He was named to the D3hoops.com All-Central Region team Monday. He serves as a Fellowship of Christian Athletes' huddle leader. He was a community advisor in the office of residential life at Augustana and in summers works as a laboratory assistant at Peoria Disposal Company in Peoria, Ill.
Nic Hoepfner
Senior forward, biology, United Township High School, East Moline, Ill.
Nic Hoepfner plans to attend dental school after graduating from Augustana.
Hoepfner was sidelined for six games this season after suffering a concussion in an overtime win over then top-rated Wisconsin-Whitewater. He returned Jan. 14 and is averaging about 20 minutes a game.
He told the Quad City Times in February: “We all feel like there is more of our story to be written and we’re anxious to see where the next few weeks leads. The ups and downs of this season have told us all nothing will ever be easy, but we also have a good understanding of what we can do if we continue to work together. That motivates us every time we get to play.’’
Brandon Motzel
Senior forward, engineering physics and pre-med, Carmel High School, Buffalo Grover, Ill.
Just five days after having major hand surgery Motzel had four points, two rebounds, a blocked shot, an assist and a steal against DePauw March 8.
“You do what you have to do for the team,’’ Motzel told the Quad City Times. “Whatever it takes, that’s what it’s all about.’’
Motzel was player of the year in basketball but also lettered in baseball at Carmel High.
Jake Gylten
Senior forward, pre-med and biology, Iowa City West High School.
Jake Gylten is from North Liberty, Iowa, He helped West High to an undefeated record and a 4A State Championship in 2011. He also lettered in track and field.
Gylten has played in nine games this season, having missed some games because of injury.
In December vs. Wisconsin-Whitewater, he hit two free throws in the final minute of the first overtime to help force a second five-minute period and a win for Augustana.
Mark Roth
Senior guard, sociology-social welfare and communication studies, Washington Community High School, Metamora, Ill.
When he was a first-year student at Augustana, Mark Roth helped set a school record 15 three-point field goals by making five of six attempts in a 96-53 win against MacMurray. Last year he led the Vikings with 36 three-point field goals. As co-captain this year, he scored his career high 17 points during an early season win in the Jim Connor Classic in Crestview Hills, Ky.
Mark helped lead a skills camp at the Scola Divinito Salvador School during the basketball team’s summer 2013 trip to Brazil. During that memorable trip, he said he realized that “basketball is truly an international language.”
Alex Dziagwa
Senior center, psychology, Riverside-Brookfield (Ill.) High School
Dziagwa was on the team's trip to Brazil in 2013, where his dunking ability energized the Brazilian crowd in a game vs Jundiaense/Vinjedo (see photo), where he also scored the first basket of the game.
Michael Hoekstra
Sophomore forward, business administration and accounting, Bishop McNamara High School, St. Anne, Ill.
Hoekstra was named to the CCIW Academic All-Conference team in 2013-14.
At right, Hoekstra slams home a dunk in the closing minutes of the NCAA Division III Tournament Sectional Championship game against the Marietta Pioneers at Augustana March 14.
Jacob Johnston
Sophomore guard, accounting, Erie High School, native of Cordova. Ill.
Johnston led Erie to just its third regional title in school history.
He was named to the CCIW Academic All-Conference team in 2013-14.