By: by Tim Evans

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 1 seed Augustana University advanced to the championship game of the NSIC/Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament for the second straight season following an 83-62 win over No. 3 seed Winona State (16-13) on Monday night at the Sanford Pentagon.
 
The Vikings improved to 27-2 on the season with the win and will have a chance to win back-to-back NSIC Tournament Championships.
 
Following a 15-2 run by Winona State that allowed the Warriors to take a five point lead with 12:39 to play in the second half, the Vikings dug in on the defensive end and went on a 14-0 run and never looked back taking a nine point lead and building it to as much as 23 in the final 12 minutes of play.
 
Augustana forced Winona State into 12 turnovers on the game, 10 in the second half alone.
 
Senior forward Casey Schilling was firing on all cylinders in the second half scoring 17 of his 26 points in the final 20 minutes. Schilling scored 11 straight points to start the second half for the Vikings and finished the game scoring 26 on 9 of 15 shooting with a 3-pointer. He was also 7 of 7 from the free throw line.
 
Daniel Jansen added 25 points for the Vikings finishing the game 9 of 17 from the field, picking up two big 3-pointers in the second half helping the Vikings stretch their lead. Alex Richter added nine points for the Vikings and Adam Beyer pitched in with seven.
 
Augustana out-rebounded Winona State 36-22 and finished the game shooting 50.8 percent (30 of 59) from the field. The Vikings shot over 80 percent from the free throw line for the second straight night finishing 17 of 19 (89.5 percent) from the line.  
 
Augustana dominated the glass in the first half leading to a four-point lead at the break. The Vikings out-rebounded the Warriors 22-12 in the first 20 minutes and were able to score seven second-chance points.
 
Augustana opened up a 6-0 lead in the contest but the Warriors answered with a 6-0 run of their own to tie up things just over five minutes into the contest.
 
The Vikings then began to bully their way into the paint going on a 12-5 run over the next 2:29 to build a seven point lead after Steven Schaefer knocked down a 3-pointer to put Augustana in front 18-11.
 
Winona State started to find some rhythm from outside hitting a trio of 3-pointers over the next six minutes of the game to cut Augustana's lead to two at 26-24 with 5:04 remaining in the half but the Vikings continued to force the ball into the paint creating opportunities at the free throw line.
 
Richter converted a 3-point-play to push Augustana's lead back up to seven at 33-26 with 2:30 remaining in the half and the Vikings would carry a 34-30 lead into the break after stopping Winona State twice on the defensive end with under 30 seconds left in the half.
 
The Vikings finished the half shooting 46.4 percent (13 of 28) from the field, including 1 of 5 from 3-point range. Augustana was 7 of 8 from the free throw line and was led in scoring by Jansen's 11 points.
 
Schilling finished the half with nine points despite picking up his second foul with just under six minutes to go in the first frame.
 
Schilling came out strong in the second half scoring nine straight points for the Vikings in just under a two minute span helping the Vikings take an eight-point lead at 43-35.
 
Schilling would make it 11 straight points but the last two came during a 15-2 Winona State run in which the Warriors were able to take a 50-45 lead.
 
After a three minute scoring drought, the Vikings picked up the intensity on the defensive end forcing three turnovers during a three minute stretch in which the Vikings were able to out-score the Warriors 14-0 to regain the lead and build it up to nine at 59-50.
 
Winona State was able to cut the lead back down to five with 7:33 to play but the Vikings continued to pressure the Warriors forcing them into five more turnovers over the next five minutes building a double-digit.
 
John Warren hit a 3-pointer that gave the Vikings a 66-56 lead, Augustana's second double-digit lead of the night, and the Vikings led by 10 or more the remainder of the night as Adam Beyer and Jansen hit a pair of late threes to put the game out of reach.
 
Augustana will take on MSU Moorhead in the NSIC/Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament Championship game tomorrow night at 5 p.m. at the Sanford Pentagon.