LOUIVILLE --- Western Washington, bidding to become the first school to win back-to-back NCAA Division II men's basketball titles in 19 years, plays Drury University Saturday at 11:30 a.m. Pacific time in an Elite Eight semifinal contest at historic Freedom Hall.

The two teams will be playing for the second time this season.  The Vikings defeated the Panthers 72-69 Dec. 18 in the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic in Las Vegas.

The game will be televised live on the CBS Sports Network and broadcast on KPUG 1170 radio in the Bellingham area.  ROOT Sports Northwest will show the game on a tape delayed basis beginning at 5 p.m. PDT Saturday.

WWU, 31-2 overall and ranked No.4 nationally in the final NABC NCAA II Top 25 poll, advanced with a 96-82 quarterfinal win Thursday over Florida Southern, champions of the South Region. The win total ties the school record set last season.

It is the third Elite Eight appearance for the Vikings, who are now 5-1 in those contests and have won 10 straight national tournament games. In addition to capturing the national title last year, they reached the national semifinals in 2001.

The last team to repeat as NCAA II champions was Cal State Bakersfield in 1994.

Drury, ranked No.7 nationally and the Midwest Regional champion, is 29-4 after defeating South Carolina-Aiken 84-75 in another quarterfinal. The Panthers have won 21 straight games, following an 8-4 start. 
         
The Vikings reached the Elite Eight with a 62-58 victory over Seattle Pacific in the championship game of the West Regional before a crowd of 2,521 at Sam Carver Gymnasium. Prior to that, they defeated Chaminade 102-87  in the opening round and Cal State San Bernardino 86-77 in the regional semifinal.         

Paired in the other semifinal will be No.3-ranked Metro State  (30-2), which advanced with a 78-65 win over Franklin Pierce, and No.1-rated West Liberty (34-1), which defeated Winona State, 110-84.         

This is the first time in NCAA II Elite Eight history that four teams, all ranked among the top seven nationally, have advanced to the semifinals.
         
Saturday's winners move on to the national championship game which will be played Sunday, Apr. 7 at Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, as part of the Division I Final Four, celebrating 75 years of March Madness.  The game wlll tip off at noon Pacific time and admission will be free.     

Leading the way for WWU, which also claimed the GNAC title with a 17-1 record, the best in league history, is senior guard John Allen, a Daktronics third-team All-American and West Region Player of the Year and first-team NABC West All-District pick, who averages 17.5 points and 4.2 assists a game.

Senior forward Paul Jones, an honorable mention Daktronics All-America and first-team NABC all-district and second-team Daktronics all-region choice, contributes 14.3 points and 6.4 rebounds while shooting 58.7 percent (185-of-315) from the field.         

Completing the starting lineup for the Vikings are junior guard Richard Woodworth, who averages 10.8 points and 3.4 assists and was the West Regional Most Outstanding Player; senior center Chris Mitchell, who provides 8.5 points and 5.7 rebounds; and junior forward Austin Bragg, who contributes 9.0 points and a team-high 7.2 rebounds.

The Vikings’ 30-plus wins in each of the last two seasons is the only time in school history that has been achieved. WWU had a 24-0 start this season and a 30-game winning streak over the last two years. Both the start and streak broke school records that had stood for 41 years.

WWU has started the same five players in every game this season, and all were named to the GNAC all-star team.
 
Drury's top players are guard Alex Hall (19.4 ppg), a 6-2 senior, was a third-team Daktronics All-American, and 6-1 senior guard Brandon Lockhart (12.0 ppg) who was the regional Most Outstanding Player. Hall has hit 114 3-pointers and had seven 30-point games this season. This is Drury’s first Elite Eight appearance and seventh trip to nationals.

Western Washington 72, Drury 69 (Dec. 18 at Las Vegas) 

Chris Mitchell had a team-high 16 points, including two critical free throws with 19.3 seconds left, lifting WWU to a 72-69 victory over Drury at the 2012 South Point Holiday Hoops Classic held at The Arena at South Point.

It was the first loss of the season for Drury, which got game-highs of 20 points and 11 rebounds from forward Ian Carter.

Drury tied the game at 67-67 on a fast break dunk by Cameron Adams with 2:17 to play, but Adams was assessed a technical foul for hanging on the rim, and John Allen put WWU in front to stay with two free throws.

A Richard Woodworth free throw extended the margin to three, but two Carter free throws with 1:07 remaining narrowed the gap to one, 70-69. A shot clock violation gave the ball back to Drury, which ran a pick-and-roll that got Brandon Lockhart into the lane on a drive.

Lockhart's layup missed, and Mitchell grabbed the rebound and was fouled, then hit two free throws. Drury had a pair of 3-point attempts in the final 10 seconds, but both were off line.

Allen finished with 15 points for the Vikings and moved into 11th place in WWU career scoring. Woodworth added 12 points, all in the second half.

Lockhart had 15 points for the Panthers, who had a 47-39 advantage in rebounds, and Alex Hall added 12.

Despite hitting just two of their first 19 shots from the field and shooting a season-low 26.5 percent (9-of-34) in the first half, the Vikings trailed by only two 38-36, at halftime.

Drury still led, 48-44, nearly five minutes into the second half, but WWU rallied with eight straight points, taking the lead on a Paul Jones free throw and extending the margin to four, 52-48, on a 3-pointer by Woodworth with 12:40 to play.

WEST REGION AT NCAA II ELITE EIGHT: A representative of the West Region has either won the national men’s basketball title or been runner-up in each of the last four years. WWU won the title in 2012 after BYU Hawaii reached the final in 2011, and Cal Poly Pomona took the crown in 2010 after getting to the final in 2009.

NATIONAL STAT RANKINGS: The Vikings rank among the top 10 nationally in five team statistical categories. They are No.5 in scoring margin (16.0), eighth in field-goal percentage (50.5) and blocked shots (5.4) and ninth in 3-point percentage defense (29.9) and scoring offense (84.2).

TOP 10 RANKING: WWU was ranked among the Top 10 in all 16 weekly polls this season, breaking the school record of 10 set during the 2005-06 campaign. Earlier this season, the Vikings matched the school’s highest ever rating of No.2 six times. WWU also was ranked No.2 on one occasion during the 2005-06 season. In all, the Vikings are working on a school-record 24 straight Top 25 weekly rankings.

20 WIN SEASONS: WWU reached 20 wins for the 15th time in school history in Tony Dominguez’ first year as head coach. Brad Jackson accomplished that feat 12 times during his 27 years as coach and Chuck Randall did it twice in 18 seasons.