Sunday, March 6, 2016

PORTLAND, Ore. – In a season of many firsts for Western Oregon, they can add another to the list: Their first opportunity to host the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball West Regional Tournament.

On the strength of its GNAC regular season and tournament championships, the Wolves earned the region’s No. 1 seed and the privledge to host the tournament, which will commence on Friday at WOU’s New P.E. Building in Monmouth, Ore. The Wolves will play No. 8 seed Humboldt State, who won the California Collegiate Athletic Association’s tournmanet, in the opening round.

Joining Western Oregon from the GNAC is Seattle Pacific, who was selected to the field of 64 for the 12th consecutive season. The Falcons will play No. 5 seed Azusa Pacific, who lost to No. 3 seed Cal Baptist in the PacWest Conference tournament championship on Saturday.

Guided by first year head coach Jim Shaw, who was a member of the Wolves’ 1982 NAIA Division II Tournament team as a player, the Wolves enter the tournament with a 27-3 overall record and enter the GNAC Championships ranked No. 4 in D2SIDA Division II Media Poll and No. 6 in the NABC Division II Poll. Western Oregon prevailed in two close games at the GNAC Championships, knocking off Seattle Pacific 58-57 in the semifinals on Friday before collecting a 78-71 win over Alaska in the final on Saturday.

The Wolves will look to avenge an early exit in last year’s tournament when they took a 75-67 loss to Azusa Pacific in the opening round of the 2015 tournament, their first as a NCAA Division II institution.

Seattle Pacific used a solid non-conference schedule to solidify their unprecendented 12th consecutive NCAA Division II Tournament appearnace, which included wins over fellow tournament participants Azusa Pacific and Chico State. The Falcons used win streaks of eight and nine games to finish tied for third with Alaska Anchorage in the GNAC regular season standings and entered the GNAC Championships as the No. 4 seed. In the tournament, the Falcons won their quarterfinal game over Central Washington, 69-65, before losing to Western Oregon in the semifinals.

Seattle Pacific advanced to the semifinals of last year’s NCAA Division II West Regional, beating BYU-Hawaii in the quarterfinals, 81-69, before falling to Cal Baptist 78-77. The Falcons entered the GNAC Championships ranked No. 24 in the D2SIDA Division II Media Poll.

NCAA DIVISION II MEN'S BASKETBALL WEST REGIONAL
at New P.E. Building, Montmouth, Ore.

Friday, Mar. 11 - Quarterfinals
Noon: No. 6 Cal Poly Pomona (22-7) vs No. 3 California Baptist (27-6)
2:30 pm: No. 7 Chico State (22-6) vs No. 2 UC San Diego (22-7)
5:00 pm: No. 5 Azusa Pacific (22-8) vs No. 4 Seattle Pacific (22-8)
7:30 pm: No. 8 Humboldt State (21-8) vs No. 1 Western Oregon (27-3)

Saturday, March 12 - Semifinals
5:00 pm: CPP/CBU winner vs CSUC/UCSD winner
7:30 pm: APU/SPU winner vs HSU/WOU winner

Monday, March 14 - Championship
7:00 pm: Semifinal winners