SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The No. 9 Augustana men's basketball team looks to continue its run in the NSIC with its final full road weekend with contests at Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
 
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The Games
The Vikings face CSP on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Mavericks on Saturday in Mankato, Minnesota, at 5:30 p.m. Previously this season, Augustana toppled the Golden Bears, 75-58, and the Mavericks, 83-50. The wins were part of a three-game stretch that AU held an average margin of victory of 26.3 points.
 
About the Golden Bears
Concordia St. Paul enters the weekend with a 3-21 record on the season after earning a split last weekend to improve its NSIC mark to 2-15. The Golden Bears fell by two points (66-64) at Sioux Falls before prevailing 61-60 at Southwest Minnesota State. Marcus Skeete made the game-winning shot for CSP with 2.0 seconds on the clock for the win.
 
Freshman Elijah Ormiston leads the Golden Bears on the season averaging 17.0 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Skeete, also a freshman, chips in 13.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
 
The Golden Bears are allowing 79.8 points per game on 48 percent shooting. They score 68.2 points per game while shooting at a 44 percent clip. They are forcing 10.5 turnovers per game with 4.5 steals and 2.5 blocks per game.
 
About the Mavericks
Minnesota State enters the weekend with a 14-7 record and 7-7 in the NSIC. The Mavericks are coming off of a 77-69 victory at Sioux Falls Saturday. The night before at SMSU, MSU fell 81-71. The Mavericks have the third-best shooting percentage in the NSIC coming in at 48 percent.
 
Sophomore guard Quincy Anderson leads the Mavericks in points this season averaging 17.1 points per game and averaging 6.5 rebounds per game. Junior Kelby Kramer leads the NSIC in blocks this season with 47 and leads his team in rebounding averaging 7.0 per game.
 
For the Maverick defense, they allow 74.0 points per game with a +4.4 scoring margin. They are forcing 11 turnovers per game with 6.7 steals and an NSIC leading blocks 5.0 per game.
 
Augustana topped the then-No. 25 Mavericks 83-50 on Dec. 10, dropping MSU to 7-2 on the season and 2-2 in the NSIC. since then, The Mavericks have gone 7-5.
 
About the Vikings
Augustana owns its highest national ranking since being ranked No. 1 after winning the 2016 National Championship with its current No. 9 ranking from the NABC. The Vikings are 19-2 on the season and sit in first place of the NSIC South Division with its 13-2 record. The Vikings have won nine-straight games including a sweep last weekend with wins over Winona State and No. 19 Upper Iowa.
 
Tyler Riemersma, fully embedded as an NSIC Player of the Year candidate, averages a double-double of 17.9 points and 10.8 rebounds per game to lead AU in both categories. However, he is not alone on the scoring front as four Vikings in all average double-figure points. Isaac Fink is second on the team at 15.2 points while Adam Dykman is third at 13.1 points. Dylan LeBrun, the newest member of the 1,000-point club, totals 11.3 points per contest.
 
Jameson Bryan, enjoying his senior season in a breakout campaign, averages 4.4 assists per game while adding 8.1 points per contest. He ranks second in the nation with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.27-to-1, by far the best in the NSIC.
 
Augustana tallies 77.7 points per game and has the league's best scoring defense at 64.8 points per game.
 
One Last Thing
Fink, averaging a career-best 15.2 points per game, is just shy of qualifying for the national statistical rankings in 3-point field goal percentage. The NCAA states you must make 2.5 3-point field goals per game to qualify where Fink is at 2.1. However, if he did qualify, his 46.3 percent shooting from deep would rank him 12^th in all of NCAA Division II.