Tournament Web Site
2009-10 CWU Season Statistics
NCAA Tournament Bracket (Interactive)
NCAA Tournament Bracket (PDF)

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Mar. 9) -- The Central Washington University men's basketball team will face its longest and fiercest rival in the first round of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship, as the Wildcats will take on Western Washington University at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Mar. 12, on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium in Bellingham.

The Wildcats, 16-10 overall and the third-place team from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference this season, are seeded eighth in the West Region and will play the top-seeded Vikings (25-5, 12-4 GNAC) for the third time this season. Western won the previous two meetings, 84-70 in Ellensburg on Jan. 23 and 90-86 in Bellingham on Feb. 28.

The NCAA playoff meeting will be the 241st all-time men's basketball contest between the two schools, with Central leading the all-time series by a 151-89 count. However, the Wildcats have lost nine of the last 12 meetings, including 10 of the last 11 played at Carver Gym. Central and Western have not met in the postseason since the 1997-98 campaign, when the Wildcats defeated the Vikings, 88-84, to advance to the NAIA National Tournament in their final campaign before joining the NCAA Division II.

Central Washington has now qualified for the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship in seven of its 12 seasons as a member of the NCAA, including three straight years and four of the past five seasons under fifteenth-year head coach Greg Sparling (CWU, 1993; 254-167).

The winner of the Central-Western first round game will play the winner of Cal Poly Pomona (22-6) and Dixie State (20-5) on Saturday night (Mar. 13) at 7 p.m. in one regional semifinal. The regional championship game will be played at 7 p.m. on Monday, Mar. 15.

Other first round match-ups on Friday have third-seeded and GNAC champion Seattle Pacific (22-5) squaring off with Pacific West Conference co-champion and number six seed Brigham Young-Hawaii (20-5) at 12:30 p.m. and California Collegiate Athletic Association foes Cal State San Bernardino (second seed; 22-7) versus Humboldt State (seventh seed; 22-7) at 2:30 p.m.

Single-day ticket prices are $10 for reserved, $8 for general admission, and $5 for students and youth. General admission tickets will go on sale today (Tuesday) at 11 a.m., and can be purchased through the WWU ticket office at 360-650-2583 or online at www.wwuvikings.com. Reserved tickets will go on sale on Wednesday (Mar. 10) at 2 p.m.

Fans will have multiple ways to follow the game if they are unable to attend. All tournament games will be available with video streaming, live stats, and Central's games will have the radio/Internet broadcasts of Robert Lowery on KXLE Radio. Click here to visit the tournament web site.

2010 NCAA DIVISION II MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
WEST REGION TOURNAMENT AT BELLINGHAM, WA

First Round (Friday, March 12)
#3 Seattle Pacific (22-5) vs. #6 Brigham Young-Hawaii (20-5), 12:30 p.m.
#2 Cal State San Bernardino (22-7) vs. #7 Humboldt State (22-7), 2:30 p.m.
#4 Cal Poly Pomona (22-6) vs. #5 Dixie State (20-5), 5:30 p.m.
#1 Western Washington (25-5) vs. #8 CENTRAL WASHINGTON (16-10), 7:30 p.m. --  Video Streaming / Live Audio

Regional Semifinals (Saturday, March 13)
SPU-BYUH winner vs. CSUSB-HSU winner, 5 p.m.
CPP-DSC winner vs. WWU-CWU winner, 7 p.m.

Regional Championship (Monday, March 15)
Semifinal winners, 7 p.m.