MARYVILLE, Mo. – No. 5 seed Augustana University men's basketball (24-8) will play in the NCAA Central Region Tournament for the third straight season tonight, taking on No. 1 seed Northwest Missouri State (30-1) at 7:30 p.m. at Bearcat Arena in Maryville, Missouri. The Vikings advanced to the semifinals with a 76-69 win over Arkansas-Monticello on Saturday night.
 
The Vikings and Bearcats will meet for the ninth time, including the fifth meeting in the last three seasons. Four of the last five games have been decided by two or less points, and the two teams are meeting in the NCAA Central Region tournament for the third straight season. Augustana and Northwest Missouri State played in region semifinals in Sioux Falls in 2015 before meeting in the championship game last season.
 
The winner of tonight's game will play the winner of No. 2 seed Southwest Minnesota State and No. 3 seed East Central University in the region championship game on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

THE CENTRAL REGION
• Northwest Missouri State earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Central Region Tournament and will host the regional for the first time in school history
• Augustana is one of four Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference teams to earn a spot in the NCAA Central Region Tournament
• The quarterfinals saw two high-scoring games to start the day on Saturday
• No. 3 seed East Central defeated No. 6 seed MSU Moorhead 115-106 in overtime before No. 2 seed Southwest Minnesota State earned a 93-82 win over No. 7 seed Northwest Missouri State
• Northwest Missouri State defeated No. 8 seed Upper Iowa 79-74 in overtime before the Vikings downed Arkansas-Monticello 76-69
• Southwest Minnesota State and East Central will play Sunday at 5 p.m.

NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• Augustana is making its 14th NCAA Tournament appearance in school history in 2016-17
• Augustana is making its third straight appearance in the NCAA Central Region Tournament semifinals
• The Vikings have been to the NCAA Tournament eight times in the last 10 years, including three straight trips
• Augustana made its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1975 and won its first NCAA Tournament game in 1978
• Augustana is 17-15 all-time in NCAA Tournament games
• Augustana has played in three NCAA Central Region Championship games in program history
• The Vikings played for the regional title in 2009 in Marshall, Minnesota and again in 2010 in Mankato
• Augustana hosted the NCAA Central Region Tournament for the first time in school history in 2014-15
• Augustana hosted the regional for the second straight season last year, winning the program's first regional title to advance to the Elite Eight
• Augustana secured the first National Championship in program history last season with a 90-81 win over Lincoln Memorial
• Augustana defeated Tarleton State (86-79) in the quarterfinals of the Elite Eight before advancing to the final with a 74-55 win over Western Oregon

THE 20-WIN SEASON
• Augustana owns a record of 24-8 on the season
• Augustana has won 20 or more games in a season 10 times in school history, including seven times under the direction of 14th-year head coach Tom Billeter
• Augustana has now won 20-plus games in 7 of the last 10 years, including three straight seasons

SPENCER AND BUSACK EARN ALL-NSIC HONORS
• Augustana's Jordan Spencer and Mike Busack were named to the All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference team which was announced Thursday
• Spencer, a two-time All-NSIC South Division honoree, was named to the All-NSIC First Team for 2016-17
• Busack is making his first appearance on the All-NSIC Team, earning Second Team honors
• Spencer earned Second Team honors as a freshman and sophomore. He was also named the league's Freshman of the Year in 2014-15

LAST TIME OUT
• Augustana used a strong second half to earn a 76-69 win over No. 4 seed Arkansas-Monticello on Saturday night
• The Vikings out-scored the Boll Weevils 39-26 in the second frame, starting out the second half on a 13-0 run
• Mike Busack, who played just eight minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, scored 17 points in the second half to lead the team with 21
• Zach Huisken recorded his first career double-double finishing with 10 points and a career-high 12 rebounds
• Jordan Spencer added 15 points, eight assists and four rebounds while Marcus Asmus pitched in with 12 points and four rebounds off the bench
• Augustana finished the game shooting 60 percent (33 of 55) from the field, including 35.3 percent (6 of 17) from 3-point range
• The Vikings out-rebounded the Weevils 36-20 and scored 16 second-chance points
• Arkansas-Monticello led 43-37 at halftime but the Vikings came out strong to start the second half to take the lead and put the game away

ABOUT AUGUSTANA
• Augustana is averaging 83.6 points per game, which ranks 41st in the country entering the NCAA Tournament
• The Vikings have out-scored opponents by 10.5 points per game which leads the NSIC and ranks 29th nationally
• Augustana is allowing just 73.2 points per game
• Augustana is shooting 48.6 percent from the field as a team, including 40.4 percent from 3-point range
• The Vikings rank 20th in the country in 3-point field goal percentage
• Augustana averages 12.7 made free throws per game and is shooting 73.2 percent from the line as a team
• Augustana is averaging 37.8 rebounds per game and owns a +6.3 rebound margin on the season
• The Vikings rank second in the NSIC and 16th in the country averaging 17.4 assists per game
• Augustana is averaging 6.2 steals per game which ranks fifth in the NSIC

ABOUT NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE
• Northwest Missouri State is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Central Region Tournament and the No. 1 ranked team in the country
• The Bearcats enter tonight's game with a record of 30-1 on the season
• Northwest Missouri State is averaging 79.5 points per game and is out-scoring opponents by 17.0 ppg
• The Bearcats allow just 62.5 points per game, holding opponents to 43 percent shooting
• NWMSU shoots 52.1 percent from the field, including 43.1 percent from 3-point range
• NWMSU averages 14.1 made free throws per game and is shooting 68.8 percent from the stripe as a team
• NWMSU averages 32.6 rebounds per game and owns a +4.2 rebound margin on the season
• NWMSU averages 13.3 assists, 9.1 turnovers and 6.2 steals per game
• Junior guard Justin Pitts leads the Bearcats in scoring averaging 20.5 points per game
• Chris-Ebou Ndow averages 12.6 points and a team-high 6.1 rebounds for the Bearcats
• Ben McCollum is in his eight season as the head coach at NWMSU. McCollum owns a career record of 171-71

SERIES HISTORY
• Tonight's game will be the ninth all-time meeting between Augustana and Northwest Missouri State
• The all-time series is tied at four games apiece
• Tonight's game is the fifth meeting between the two teams in the last three seasons
• Three of the last four games have been decided by two or less points
• Augustana and Northwest Missouri State met in the NCAA Central Region semifinals in Sioux Falls on March 15, 2015
• The Bearcats defeated the Vikings 66-65 to knock the Vikings out of the region tournament at home
• The two teams met on Nov. 19 last season and Daniel Jansen hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give the Vikings a 79-77 win at the Sioux Falls Arena
• The Vikings and Bearcats then met in the region title game at the Sanford Pentagon on March 15 and Jordan Spencer hit a pair of late free throws to give Augustana an 80-78 win and its first ever region title
• Augustana traveled to Maryville on Nov. 17 earlier this season and the Bearcats picked up an 82-71 win