SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Winona State men's basketball team held No. 5 Augustana to its lowest point total of the season but fell to the Vikings 66-55 Saturday night in the regular season finale at Sioux Falls Arena.

After the win, the NSIC announced WSU (14-12, 13-9 NSIC) earned the No. 3 seed in the South Division when the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament begins play Wednesday. The Warriors will host Minot State at 8 p.m. in McCown Gymnasium as part of a doubleheader, as the Winona State women's basketball team will play first with a 6 p.m. game. WSU will be looking to avenge a loss to Minot State on the road earlier this season in a 63-46 setback.

The Warriors have been the NSIC Champions' biggest defensive challenge this season, preventing the NSIC's highest scoring offense (91.3 ppg) to its two lowest point totals of the season, as Augie also managed to score just 75 against WSU in a January meeting in McCown.

But WSU was unable to manage much offensively, either. Senior Mark Blacklock ended his final regular season with a 17-point, 8-rebound performance on 6-of-9 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers along with three steals and two blocks. However no other Warrior scored more than six points.

Augie jumped ahead of the Warriors early, leading 13-4 just three and a half minutes into the game. Three minutes later, the Warriors found themselves trailing 24-9. But over the next five minutes, WSU clawed back with a 13-0 run as a Riley Bambenek brought the score to within two at 24-22 with 8:28 to play in the half and the Warriors hung with the Vikings throughout the rest of the half, trailing by just four, 33-29, at the break.

Blacklock had 10 of his 17 points in the first half, while Corey Jeffs had all six of his points in the opening 20 minutes.

The Warriors struggled in the second half, however, making just 9-of-32 shots (28 percent) as Augie built back a double-digit lead at 41-31 just four minutes into the half. A 3-pointer from Blacklock brought it back to a 9-point game at 47-38, But Augie kept the lead above 10 for most of the remainder of the game. Nick Arenz hit a 3-point basket with 4:03 to play to cut it to 57-49, but the Warriors wouldn't pull closer than eight as Augustana closed out the game with the 66-55 win.