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Video by Michael Ewen, chief video editor

The St. Thomas men’s basketball team is headed back to the Final Four for the first time in 17 years.

The Tommies, led by senior Tyler Nicolai’s 28 points, beat the Augustana Vikings 72-56 Saturday night in the NCAA Division III Elite Eight in Rock Island, Ill. The Tommies’ Final Four trip will be the team’s first in its last 11 NCAA appearances.

“We’re absolutely thrilled,” coach Steve Fritz said. “It’s a group that’s had a lot of experience and a lot of good times in the NCAA tournament and everything else, but this really caps it and gives them a great opportunity to show what they can do as seniors.”

Seniors Nicolai, Alex Healy, Teddy Archer, Brady Ervin and Anders Halvorsen had a shot at the Final Four two seasons ago but lost a second-half lead to St. Louis’ Washington University. For that reason, Healy said, Saturday’s victory was more than just a Final Four berth.

“It’s extra special,” he said. “I remember that locker room [after the game] and how painful it was to get this close to the Final Four and not make it. We wanted to make sure that we just left it all on the floor.”

The Tommies will look to get their third consecutive victory against a top-10 team when they travel Friday, March 18, to Salem, Va., to take on No. 2 Middlebury College (28-1).

Saturday’s win was the first time the Tommies have won an NCAA tournament game on their opponent’s court. Junior Tommy Hannon said the Tommies were prepared for the estimated 2,286 fans — mostly Augustana’s — who packed the gym and made plenty of noise.

“We were loose,” junior Tommy Hannon said. “We knew it was going to be a packed crowd, and our goal was just to see if we could quiet them.”

The Tommies started the game with a stifling full-court press, causing 11 Augustana turnovers in the first half and 19 overall. Nicolai said the team feeds off the press.

“That’s where we get our energy from,” Nicolai said. “We knew we had to do it right from the tip.”

The full-court press kept the Vikings, who shot roughly 46 percent from the floor all season, off-balance. The team made only 13 field goals and shot 15 percent from the 3-point line all game. The Vikings stayed in the game by converting the Tommies’ 27 fouls into 28 points from the free throw line.

Nicolai, on the other hand, caught fire in the second half, scoring 22 of his 28 points. With the Tommies ahead eight points with 14:31 remaining, Nicolai hit three 3-pointers in a minute-and-a-half span to give the Tommies a 15-point lead. He finished with six of the Tommies’ season-high 10 3-pointers, but said he didn’t plan to rely on his outside shooting.

“I have to make sure I keep attacking. I can’t just settle for 3’s the whole game, but tonight I guess they were just feeling good, and I kept letting them go,” Nicolai said.

Healy and Hannon said they could tell Nicolai was hot from the start.

“I’ve been playing with him for three years, and I’ve seen it all the time,” Hannon said. “You know when he’s this hot, you have to give him the ball.”

“We’ve seen him do it before in big games, kind of take over,” Healy added. “I mean, he’s our All-American point guard, so any shot he takes, we think it’s a good shot and that it’s going in.”

Nicolai also made the game-winning layup on St. Thomas’ final play Friday against Wisconsin-Stevens Point to help the team advance to the Elite Eight.

Both Healy and Hannon scored 11 points in Saturday’s victory, and Hannon grabbed six rebounds. Senior Anders Halvorsen added eight points, including two big 3-pointers in the first half, and senior Teddy Archer had six points and three rebounds.

The Tommies shot 53 percent from the field and from the 3-point line, while holding the Vikings to 56 points. St. Thomas never trailed in the second half, and Fritz said the Tommies played one of their best games of the season.

“No question,” he said. “I thought the second half was probably the best half we played. [The lead] never got closer than five, and we kept it up more than 10 most of the time.”

With four teams remaining, the Tommies will try to continue their run to the NCAA championship Friday, March 18, against Middlebury in Salem. Middlebury defeated Maryland’s St. Mary’s College 65-50 Saturday night in Rochester, N.Y.

The other two teams in the Final Four, College of Wooster and Williams College, also play Friday.

Nicolai, the Tommies’ All-American point guard, said the team expects to be a contender.

“Every year our expectation is to try to win a national championship,” Nicolai said. “We try to get to a position like this where anything can happen.”

Miles Trump can be reached at mttaylorjohn@stthomas.edu.