ARDEN HILLS, Minn. -- The Augsburg University men's basketball team claimed its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoff championship in program history, posting an impressive 81-69 victory at Bethel University in the title game on Sunday afternoon. With the win, the Auggies receive the MIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III national tournament, their first NCAA appearance since the 1998-99 season.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Augsburg 81, Bethel 69
LOCATION: Robertson Center Gym, Arden Hills, Minn.
RECORDS: Augsburg 21-7 overall, Bethel 21-7 overall

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Augsburg continued its impressive road season, as the Auggies have an 11-2 record this season in road games, which includes a MIAC playoff semifinal win at No. 3-ranked Saint John's on Friday. Combined with two neutral-site wins in Las Vegas, Nev., in late December, the Auggies are 13-2 away from Si Melby Hall this season.
• Augsburg shot 55.8 percent (29-of-52) from the field, which included 52.0 percent (13-of-25) from three-point range, and hit 90.0 percent (10-of-11) from the free-throw line in the victory over the Royals. This marked the ninth time this season Augsburg has shot better than 50.0 percent from the field -- the Auggies are 9-0 in those games. Augsburg's 13 three-pointers were its second-most of the season. The Auggies are the top three-point shooting team this season among MIAC teams in overall statistics, and have made double-digit three-pointers 14 times this season.
• Augsburg's starting lineup did a majority of the heavy lifting in today's victory, with four of the team's five starters playing the whole 40 minutes of action.
• The Auggies were paced offensively by Collin Olmscheid (SR, Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo HS), who scored a season-high 36 points, shooting 15-for-19 from the field, while hitting 4-of-7 from three-point range. Olmscheid added six rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal. The game is the 16th this season with 20 points or more from Olmscheid, the MIAC's scoring average leader at 20.5 points per-game. Olmscheid has averaged 24.7 points per-game and 6.3 rebounds per-game in the Auggies' three-game MIAC postseason playoff run.
• Kevin McKiernan (JR, Savage, Minn./Prior Lake HS) also had a monster game for Augsburg, hitting 7-for-9 from beyond the arc, finishing with 23 points, while adding three rebounds, an assist and a steal. The seven made three-pointers are a career-high for McKiernan.
• Dishing out a team-best six assists, Harry Sonie (SR, Burnsville, Minn./Burnsville HS) captained the Augsburg offense. Sonie added 10 points, a pair of rebounds and a steal.
• Booker Coplin (SO, Shakopee, Minn./Shakopee HS) pulled down six rebounds for the Auggies, while adding five assists and four points. Matt Carik (FY, Rogers, Minn./Rogers HS) also pulled down a career-high six rebounds, to go along with five points and an assist.
• Bethel shot 47.3 percent (26-of-55) from the field and posted 31 rebounds to Augsburg's 23.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
• Augsburg, the No. 4 seed in the MIAC playoffs, won its first MIAC playoff title since the tournament began in the 1984-85 season.
• The Auggies have appeared in the MIAC postseason playoffs eight times in the last 10 years, making it to the championship game twice.
• The NCAA Division III national tournament appearance is the fourth for Augsburg, with the other appearances coming in 1985, 1998 and 1999.

FOR THE FOES
• Bethel finished with three players in double figures, led by a 16-point, seven-assist, six rebounds effort from Jack Jenson.
• Granger Kingland and Derek Magnuson added 14 points apiece for the Royals.

UP NEXT
• The NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Committee will announce the 64-team field for the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship on Monday (2/26) at 11:30 a.m. (Central time) on an NCAA.com webcast.