Story from www.goaugie.com

The Augustana men’s basketball team opened a first half 21-point lead en route to a 87-73 win over New Mexico Highlands (NMHU) Saturday at the NCAA Central Regional in Mankato, Minn.

With the win, the No. 3 seeded Vikings improved to 23-6 and No. 6 NMHU concluded the season 20-11.  The win also continues a streak for head coach Tom Billeter.  Coach Billeter's teams (North Dakota State, Augustana) have made the NCAA Division II Tournament seven times, and they have won the first round game in all seven

The teams combined for 129 shot attempts, and the Vikings outrebounded NMHU 57 to 43.

Both teams began the game aggressively on offense, but NMHU was able to build an early 8-4 run three minutes into the game by holding Augie to 1-of-4 shooting. During that time, sophomore Cody Schilling, who finished with 20 points and 8 rebounds, provided the spark offensively for the Vikings. Schilling scored 9 consecutive points, commencing with a breakaway slam, to propel the Vikings to an 11-8 at the 15:48 mark.

Following a couple of minutes of the teams jockeying for the lead, Augustana made the offensive run that began to put the game out of reach. Down 13-17 at the 13:50 mark, the Vikings went on a 27-2 run over more than 9 minutes, during which the Vikings held NMHU to 0-of-11 from the field and forced six turnovers. Senior David Foster scored 13 during this run, including 3 three-pointers.

The Vikings sustained their double-digit lead for the remainder of the half and went into the break up 51-34. The Vikings shot 59.3 percent (16-fo-27) in the first half and held NMHU to 10-fo-30 from the field.

NMHU countered with a small run of its own to begin the second half, cutting the Augustana advantage to 14 points with 15:08 to play follow a three-point basket by Roman Andrade. Andrade led NMHU with 25 points. But each time NMHU made a run, Augustana countered with enough offense to push the lead back to a sizable margin.

Foster led the Vikings with 25 points, tying a season high, and garnered 10 rebounds, a career high. His effort was also his first double-double of the season. His point total ties his season high and Nathan Truex scored 12 and Lee Stephens and Elliot Thomas each scored eight.

Augustana will face Mesa State in the second round of the NCAA Central Regional. The Vikings and Mavericks will tip at 5 p.m. Sunday in Mankato, Minn.

To view the stats, click HERE

To listen to the New Mexico Highlands postgame press conference, click HERE

To listen to the Augustana post game press conference, click HERE