FRISCO, Texas – No. 2 Augustana University defeated No. 3 Western Oregon 74-55 on Thursday night at Dr Pepper Arena to advance to the NCAA Division II National Championship game for the first time in program history.
 
The Vikings (33-2) will play No. 1 Lincoln Memorial in the national championship on Saturday, March 26, at 2 p.m. (CT) on CBS.
 
Daniel Jansen, who missed the first game of his career in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, came off the bench and sparked the Vikings with eight straight points to tie the game early. He finished the game with 13 points on 4 of 6 shooting, including 3 of 4 from behind the arc.
 
Augustana had four players in double-figures in tonight's win. Casey Schilling led the Vikings with 17 points and nine rebounds. The nine rebounds gave Schilling 330 in his career which is a new single season record at Augustana.
 
Adam Beyer put up 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists hitting 5 of 7 from the field. Jordan Spencer dished out eight assists and grabbed five rebounds. Alex Richter scored 15 points and matched his career-high with nine rebounds.
 
Augustana out-rebounded Western Oregon 48-30 and had five players with five or more rebounds. Zach Huisken added six points and matched his career-high in rebounds for the second straight night with eight.
 
Augustana raced out to a 34-19 halftime after a slow start. The Vikings finished the game shooting 43 percent from the field, hitting 25 of 53. Augustana knocked down 7 of 19 3-pointers and shot 87 percent (21 of 24) from the free throw line.
 
The Vikings locked down on the defensive end, holding Western Oregon to 30 percent shooting from the field, including just 19 percent from 3-point range. Augustana held the West Region Player of the Year Andy Avgi to two points on the night. Avgi entered tonight's game averaging 20 points per game for the Wolves.  
 
The Vikings started off the game just 1 for 6 from the field allowing Western Oregon to jump out to an 8-2 lead early in the game. That's when Jansen returned to the floor after missing the first game of his career last night to score eight straight points to tie the game at 10-10 with 13:06 remaining in the half.
 
Jansen sparked an 18-4 run for the Vikings that allowed his team to gain an eight-point lead at 18-10 with just over six minutes remaining in the half. Jansen sparked his team in the first half as the Vikings went on to out-score the Wolves 30-11 in the final 14 minutes of the half to take a 34-19 lead at the break.
 
Jansen scored all 13 of his points in the first half picking up three big 3-pointers. Augustana finished the half shooting 40 percent from the field, knocking down 4 of 11 3-pointers.
 
Augustana stretched its lead to 20 seven minutes into the first half. The Wolves cut Augustana's lead to 12 with a 6-0 run but Schilling and Richter answered with back-to-back 3-pointers that helped the Vikings stop the momentum and build a 49-29 lead.
 
Augustana build a 28-point lead with six minutes remaining in the game and the Vikings rolled in the national semifinals to earn a spot in the National Championship game on Saturday.
 
Saturday will mark just the second time the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country will play in the National Championship game. The only time the top two teams in the country met in the championship game was in 1975 when Old Dominion defeated New Orleans. The last meeting between a No. 1 and No. 2 team in the Elite Eight was in the 2009 quarterfinals, when No. 1 Findlay defeated No. 2 LIU-Post.
 
For more information on Augustana's trip to the Elite Eight, visit www.GoAugie.com/elite8.