In his four years on the Washington University men’s basketball team, senior guard Dylan Richter has seen plenty of Augustana College. The two rival schools have faced off all four season, with his first two meetings going the Bears’ way. But in last year’s matchup, Richter received a rude welcome in his return from a broken arm, as Augustana trounced the Bears 78-55.

Determined to change the outcome despite Augustana’s No. 1 rank in the nation this year, Richter poured in 27 points to lead the Bears to a 71-68 victory and a championship in the 28th Annual Lopata Classic in the Washington University Field House on Friday and Saturday.

Richter earned the tournament MVP honors for his sharpshooting title game performance, which included five three-pointers. Freshman forward Matt Palucki chipped in 12 points and nine rebounds.

The Bears improved to 5-2 after a back-and-forth battle that consisted of 17 lead changes and 14 ties. The largest lead of the game for either team was six points.

“The fact that there weren’t a lot of big lead shifts spoke to how good of a game it was—that each team would give it their best punch and the other team would come back and do the same thing,” head coach Mark Edwards said. “Everybody stepped up. I thought a big factor in our game tonight was [that] the bench contributed a lot.”

Sophomore guard Kevin Bischoff and junior guard Max Needle combined for 13 points on perfect 5-of-5 shooting to lead the reserve unit, which outscored the Vikings bench 23 to 11. Edwards’ rotation went 12 deep against an Augustana lineup that included eight players over 6 feet 7 inches. Despite the size disadvantage, the Bears finished with a 26-14 point advantage in the paint.

Wash. U. grabbed a five-point lead with just under two minutes left in the first half, but Augustana closed the period out on an 8-0 run to climb on top 35-32.

The Bears seized some momentum midway through the second half on a baseline drive by senior center Alex Toth and a fast break and one layup by Richter, which gave the Red and Green a 56-52 advantage. Shortly before, however, the Bears had picked up their tenth team foul, sending Augustana into the double bonus. The Vikings regained the lead, 59-58, before Richter took over.

The team’s leading scorer drained a step-back three-pointer with a hand in his face for a 61-59 advantage with 6:14 left, and another three with 2:36 left put the Bears ahead 68-63. The Vikings responded with a three-pointer of their own, but a pair of clutch free throws by freshman guard Brayden Teuscher and a suffocating Wash. U. defense sealed the deal.

“It was a great Division III game, and for us to be able to win while [Augustana] played well…That’s pretty special for us,” Edwards said. “It’s one thing to beat a team when they’re not on their game, but I thought they were on their game tonight.”

After Augustana’s length and quickness on defense flummoxed the Bears into a 39 percent first-half shooting clip, they improved to 50 percent in the second half. Wash. U. ‘s defense held Augustana to 37 percent shooting for the game, including 29 percent from three-point territory.

The Bears were coming off an 84-72 win over Whittier College the previous night. Sixth man Teuscher scored a career-high 23 points to earn first-team all-tournament honors. Wash. U. received 14 points and six rebounds in the first half from Toth, who finished with 15 and 10, respectively, for his third double-double of the year. Richter added 14 points.

“I was just feeling my shot, and I don’t think [Whittier was] expecting that,” Toth said. “I think they were expecting [Richter and Teuscher] to tear them up, which they did. But I love to rebound, I love to play defense, and if I can score a few points, that’s fine, too. It’s whatever the team needs.”

Toth also helped the Bears match Whittier’s physicality in a rough-and-tumble, frenetically paced contest.

“I’m usually a pretty physical player, so I actually really like when [the referees] don’t call as many whistles,” Toth said.

Edwards had a slightly different take.

“I really think Toth has been watching too much WWE,” Edwards joked, though he added that he had the same style of play in college and appreciates his center’s effort.

Although the unranked Bears (5-2, 0-0 UAA) are understandably excited by their success in the tournament, Richter placed matters into perspective.

“It’s just another step in the journey,” he said. “My freshman year, we won the [national championship], so all the guys understand it’s a long process. It’s not one game. Within a game, it’s not one possession—it’s 40 minutes. So you put a bunch of them together, and that’s how you make it to the postseason, which is the ultimate goal. So we’ve got to learn from this one and keep building the team and going forward.”

Wash. U. hopes to continue its roll on Wednesday night against Webster University in the Wash. U. Field House, and will then take on No. 13 Wheaton College on Saturday night at 8 p.m.