Thursday, March 24, 2016

FRISCO, Texas – For the the first time in the postseason, Western Oregon met its match.

Augustana (S.D.) used their potent brand of defense to end the Wolves long playoff run Thursday, winning 74-55 in the NCAA Division II national semifinals at Dr. Pepper Arena.

The Vikings held Western Oregon to just 30.8 percent shooting from the field (20-65) and 5 of 26 from three-point range. Augustana finished the night shooting 43.4 percent from the field (23-53) and made 21 of 24 from the free therow line. The Vikings also out-rebounded the Wolves 58-39.

Tanner Omlid led Western Oregon with 17 points to go along with eight rebounds. Devon Alexander added 12 points while Julian Nichols finished with 10. The Vikings succeeded in holding West Region Player of the Year Andy Avgi to two points and four rebounds in his final collegiate game.

Casey Schilling led four Augustana players in double figured with 17 points. Alex Richeter and Adam Beyer each had 15 points while Daniel Jansen came off the bench to score 13 points.

With the win, Augustana (33-2) advanced to play No. 1 seed Lincoln Memorial in the Division II national championship game on Saturday. Western Oregon finishes the season having asmassed the most wins in program history at 31-4.

As the game tipped off, Western Oregon looked like they would be able to go toe-to-toe with the experienced Vikings and opened up an 8-2 lead on Omlid’s first basket of the game at the 15:47 mark. Augustana scored six of the next eight points and tied the game at 10-10 on Jansen’s three-pointer with 13 minutes to go.

A three-minute scoring drought ended for both teams on Richter’s lay-in midway through the period and that started 24-9 run for Augustana that closed out the half. Beyer’s three-point put the Vikings up 27-15 with 3:06 left and another Beyer bucket with five seconds left made it 34-16 before Alexander’s last-second three-point narrowed the halftime deficit to 34-19.

Western Oregon went on a short five-point run to open the second half and narrowed the deficit to 36-22 on a Nichols’ three-point play. Augustana replied in kind, extended their lead to 22 points on a pair of Schilling free throws at the 14:22 mark. The Wolves would never get close than 18 points the rest of the way with the Vikings building their largest lead of the game, 67-40, with 6:13 left.

NOTES: Western Oregon is the fifth team in GNAC history to have advanced to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight. The league has been represented in six of the GNAC’s 15-year history…The GNAC is now 1-6 all-time in national semifinal games. The last winner was Western Washington, who went on to win the 2012 national championship…Augustana is in their 13th Division II Tournament appearance in program history. This is their first Elite Eight appearance and will be their first national championship game…Lincoln Memorial, who spent most of the season at No. 1 in both major polls, enters their matchup with Augustana with a 34-2 record.