COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. -- Claiming its 10th win on the road this season, the Augsburg University men's basketball team advanced to the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoff championship game with a stunning 80-68 upset win at Saint John's University, the No. 3-ranked team nationally, in a MIAC semifinal game on Friday evening.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Augsburg 80, Saint John's 68
LOCATION: Sexton Arena, Collegeville, Minn.
RECORDS: Augsburg 20-7 overall, Saint John's 23-3 overall

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Avenging a pair of double-digit losses in the regular season to the Johnnies, the Auggies held the lead for all but the opening 32 seconds of the game, jumping out to a 10-4 advantage in the first 3:58 and never looking back. Saint John's, the No. 3-ranked team in the latest D3hoops.com Division III national poll, cut the lead to three points in the first half and trailed 34-29 at halftime, but an 18-6 run over a 6:55 span gave the Auggies a 55-39 lead with 9:40 left, and the advantage did not sink below eight points the rest of the way.
• Augsurg's defense forced 15 Saint John's turnovers, which it converted into 17 points. Meanwhile, the Auggies committed just nine turnovers and surrendered 10 points off of them, marking the ninth time -- and the fourth time in the last five games -- that Augsburg has committed less than 10 turnovers. Augsburg averages just 10.9 turnovers per-game, the fewest among MIAC teams in overall statistics. 
• The Auggies were paced by Collin Olmscheid (SR, Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo HS), who scored 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, while hitting 6-of-7 from the free-throw line, playing 38 minutes. The game is the 15th this season with 20 points or more from Olmscheid, the MIAC's scoring average leader at 19.9 points per-game. He added four assists and a blocked shot in the win.
• Kevin McKiernan (JR, Savage, Minn./Prior Lake HS) scored 21 points, just a point off his season-best, on 6-of-12 shooting from the field, including 5-of-8 from three-point range. He also had six rebounds and three assists.
• Matt Carik (FY, Rogers, Minn./Rogers HS) came off the bench to score a season-high 13 points, adding three steals and three rebounds. He connected on 4-of-6 from the field.
• Harry Sonie (SR, Burnsville, Minn./Burnsville HS) scored 11 points with four assists and four rebounds, and Booker Coplin (SO, Shakopee, Minn./Shakopee HS) scored 10 points with six rebounds, three steals and two assists, playing 39 minutes in the game.
• One key advantage for the Auggies on Friday came in free throws. Augsburg connected on 24-of-27 from the free-throw line in the game -- 22-of-24 in the second half, as the Auggies were in the bonus for the final 10:14 of play. Meanwhile, Saint John's hit just 8-of-12 from the charity stripe.
• Augsburg connected on 46.2 percent (24-of-52) from the field, compared to 41.9 percent (26-of-62) for Saint John's. However, the Johnnies outrebounded the Auggies by a 38-30 margin, and had 32 points in the paint, compared to 16 for Augsburg.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
• Augsburg is now 10-2 in road games this season, and including two wins in Las Vegas, Nev., in late December, is now 12-2 away from its home court of Si Melby Hall this season.
• Augsburg, the No. 4 seed in the MIAC playoffs, will face No. 3-seed Bethel in the playoff title game on Sunday (2/25) at 2 p.m. in Arden Hills, Minn. The winner of Sunday's game will receive the MIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III national playoffs. The Royals also claimed a semifinal win on the road on Friday, topping No. 2-seed St. Olaf 79-57 in Northfield, Minn.
• In its eighth appearance in the MIAC postseason playoffs in the last 10 years, Augsburg advances to the playoff title game for the first time since the 2012-13 campaign.

FOR THE FOES
• Saint John's was led by Tyler Weiss, who had 23 points, hitting 11-of-15 from the field, and eight rebounds.
• David Stockman scored 16 points with six rebounds, and Jubie Alade scored eight points off the bench.