Bracket   
 
SALEM, Va. – Augustana advanced to the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championship’s final with a 90-79 win over Williams during Friday’s national semifinal contest.
 
The Vikings are headed back to the national championship for the second time in three years and fourth time overall (1981, 1993, 2015, 2017), seeking their first title in program history. Augustana will face Babson (30-2) of the New England Women’s & Men’s Athletic Conference on Saturday at 6 p.m. EST as the Beavers are also looking to win their first national title.
 
The last College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) team to win a national title was Illinois Wesleyan in 1997, while North Park was a five-time winner (1978, 1979, 1980, 1985, 1987).
 
Augustana entered the tournament as a Pool C team after the Vikings lost to North Central in the CCIW Tournament Championship. Since then, Augustana has gone 5-0, starting with a 77-74 win over defending national champion St. Thomas (Minn.). Against the Tommies, Chrishawn Orange knocked down a three-point buzzer beater that capped off a rally from eight points down with 40 seconds left.
 
In the second round, Orange connected on a jumper with three seconds left to earn a 72-70 win over UW-Whitewater.
 
The Vikings won their second sectional title in three years with wins over Wartburg (80-69) and Hanover (77-64) before Friday night’s win over Williams.
 
Orange was Augustana’s leading scorer against the Ephs as he finished with 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field. Nolan Ebel and Brett Benning each had 17 for the Vikings.
 
Twitter & Instagram: @CCIW_Athletics

The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services nine member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carroll University (Waukesha, WI), Carthage College (Kenosha, WI), Elmhurst College (Elmhurst, IL), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL), Millikin University (Decatur, IL), North Central College (Naperville, IL), North Park University (Chicago, IL) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL). During the 2015-16 academic year, the CCIW honored over 1,600 academic all-conference recipients, 14 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 36 CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients and over 100 all-Americans.