Sunday, March 10, 2013

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Western Washington (27-2) is the top seed and will play eighth-seed Chaminade (20-9) from the PacWest Conference in Friday's opening round of the NCAA Division II Men's West Regionals at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Seattle Pacific (25-3), which beat the Vikings 72-70 in Saturday's Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship game, was the only other GNAC team to qualify for the tournament. 

The Falcons are the No. 3 seed and will take on #6 seed Grand Canyon (23-7) from the PacWest Conference in the opening round. 

The other two first-round games Friday will feature CCAA members Cal Poly Pomona (27-2) and Chico State (19-10) in one contest and Dixie State from the PacWest and Cal State San Bernardino (19-8) in the other.  Pomona is the second seed.  Dixie State and CSUSB are seeded fourth and fifth and Chico State is seeded seventh.

Friday's winners will advance to Monday's semifinals at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.  The championship game will be played Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.

The men's regional is being played in conjunction with the women's regional.  The women's championship game will be played Tuesday at 6 p.m.

The two berths awarded the GNAC for the men's regional are the fewest since the 2002-03 season when the tournament was a six-team event.  Last year the GNAC received four berths.

The two GNAC qualifiers each played one other qualifying team during the regular season.  Western Washington defeated Chaminade 93-83 on Nov. 14 in Hawaii.  Seattle Pacific clobbered Chico State 79-47 on Nov. 24 at Chico.

The regional winner advances to the Elite Eight.  The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played Mar. 28 and Mar. 30 in Louisville at Freedom Hall.  The championship game will be played Sunday, Apr. 7 at Philips Arena in Atlanta.  Admission to the championship game will be free.

NCAA WOMEN'S WEST REGIONAL (Mar. 16-19 at Bellingham): Saturday - #3 UC San Diego (22-10) vs. #6 Grand Canyon (22-8), noon; #2 Simon Fraser (23-5) vs. #7 Northwest Nazarene (20-8), 2:30 p.m.; #4 Chico State (23-5) vs. #5 CSU Monterey Bay (19-8), 5 p.m.; #1 Western Washington (25-3) vs. #8 Academy of Art (23-8), 7:30 p.m.  Monday – Semifinals at noon and 5 p.m.  Tuesday – Championship game at 6 p.m.

NCAA MEN'S WEST REGIONALS (Mar. 15-19 at Bellingham): Friday - #3 Seattle Pacific (25-3) vs. #6 Grand Canyon (23-7), noon; #2 Cal Poly Pomona (27-2) vs. #7 Chico State (19-10), 2:30 p.m.; #4 Dixie State (22-6) vs. #5 Cal State San Bernardino (19-8), 5 p.m.; #1 Western Washington (27-2) vs. #8 Chaminade (20-9), 7:30 p.m.  Monday - Semifinals at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m.  Tuesday - Championship game at 8:30 p.m.