KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Augustana men's basketball student-athlete Tyler Riemersma is on the Top-50 list for the 2022 Bevo Francis Award. He was previously announced as a Top-100 finalist in mid-January.
 
The Clarence "Bevo" Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character and team achievements. This is an incredibly prestigious award, as this award will only be given to one player within Small College Basketball per season.
 
Riemersma, fully in contention for the NSIC Player of the Year, leads Augustana with a double-double average of 18.2 points and 11.0 rebounds per game. The rebound average is tops in the NSIC and ninth in the nation while his points per game are sixth in the NSIC. He shoots at a very-high rate of 58.7 percent from the field. That puts him 35^th in NCAA Division II.
 
2022 marks the sixth year of the Bevo Francis Award, after the award was not presented in 2021. Past winners include Dominez Burnett of Davenport University in 2016, Justin Pitts of Northwest Missouri State University in 2017, Emanuel Terry of Lincoln Memorial University in 2018, Aston Francis of Wheaton College in 2019 and Kyle Mangas of Indiana Wesleyan University in 2020.
 
The Vikings are 21-2 on the year, in first place of the NSIC with a 15-2 mark and ranked ninth in the nation from the NABC.

The list will be cut two more times before the winner is announced on April 4. Here are the important dates:

• March 15, 2022: Top 25
• April 2, 2022: Finalists
• April 4, 2022: The 2022 Bevo Francis Award winner announced 

Augustana closes the regular season this week, first with a Thursday night contest at Sioux Falls with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. On Saturday, the regular-season finale is the home finale and Senior Day as AU hosts Southwest Minnesota State at 5:30 p.m. on Heritage Court inside the Sanford Pentagon.