News

No. 2 Oregon Tech to play Lourdes University (Ohio) in First Round

02.29.2012

Kansas City, MO (February 29, 2012) --- The official bracket for the 2012 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship was released Wednesday afternoon at 7:00 p.m. CST. The NAIA tournaments two-seed, Oregon Tech, will play its first round contest on Thursday, March 8th, at noon CST ( 10 a.m. PST) against the Gray Wolves of Lourdes University of Sylvania, Ohio. The tournament will be held in Point Lookout, Missouri at Keeter Gymnasium on the campus of College of the Ozarks March 7-13.

Lourdes University (Ohio), competing in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference, enters the NAIA National Tournament with a 17-15 overall mark. The Gray Wolves received the automatic bid to the NAIA Division II National Tournament as the WHAC tournament runner-up after falling to Davenport (Mich.) in the tournament finals. The WHAC is one of three conferences sending four teams to the national tournament, including last year’s national champion Cornerstone (Mich.), Davenport (Mich.) and Indiana Tech. This marks the first time that Lourdes has made the NAIA Division II National Tournament.

Oregon Tech (29-4) is ranked No. 2 in the final 2012 NAIA Division II poll heading into the national tournament and was ranked in the top-10 throughout the entire season. Lourdes, the #7 seed entering the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament, knocked off Cornerstone in the quarterfinals, Concordia (Mich.) in the semifinals and lost in the finals to Davenport (Mich.) to earn a berth to this year’s national championship. The Gray Wolves finished conference play at 9-9 and never cracked into the NAIA top-25 this season.

The Hustlin’ Owls have won two NAIA Division II National Championships in both 2004 and in 2008, and will be making their 14^th overall appearance and 10^th consecutive. Oregon Tech is currently tied (Northwestern-Iowa) with the most wins at the NAIA Division II Tournament (28-11), and have never lost in first-round action.

The Cascade Conference will send four teams to this year’s national tournament. No. 8 seed Northwest University (27-4) plays defending National Champion, Cornerstone University (19-12), Wednesday morning at 10:15 am CST, while Warner Pacific University (23-8) will play No. 13 seed Indiana Wesleyan (22-11), on Wednesday at noon CST and unseeded Eastern Oregon University (19-10), earning the last at-large berth into the tournament, faces No. 6 seed Cardinal Stritch (Wisc.) (28-5), Thursday at 9:15 pm CST.

All Oregon Tech games will be broadcast on 92.5 KLAD-FM.

Click Here for Full Tournament Bracket Announcement

Click Here for National Tournament Qualifiers

Click Here for Final NAIA DII National Coaches Poll