Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team's first trip to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16 will take the Cru to Rock Island, Illinois this weekend. UMHB will travel to the Augustana (IL) College Sectional and will take on the host Vikings in an 8:00 PM game Friday night. Defending national champion Wisconsin-Stevens Point will play St. Thomas (MN) in a 5:00 PM game on Friday with the two winners meeting at 7:00 PM on Saturday for a spot in the NCAA Division III Final Four.
The Cru is 23-7 on the season and has advanced past the Second Round of the NCAA Division III National Championships for the first time in the program's history. UMHB is in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in the last five seasons. The Vikings are 26-3 on the season and won the Collegiate Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championship. Augustana is in the NCAA Division III National Championships for the 12th time in school history and the Vikings were ranked seventh in the country in the final D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll of the regular season. This will be the first meeting between UMHB and Augustana and the Cru has only played two games against CCIW teams in school history. UMHB topped Millikin 49-44 in last year's Cru Holiday Classic before falling to Wheaton (IL) College 73-58 in an NCAA Division III National Championships First Round game last March.
In the other game on Friday, Wisconsin-Stevens Point (26-3) will face St. Thomas (MN) (26-3). The Pointers entered the NCAA Tournament ranked third in the nation in the D3hoops.com Top 25 and won last year's national title. Wisconsin-Stevens Point advanced to the postseason as the champion of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. St. Thomas was ranked eighth in the final regular season poll and won the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title. The Pointers are in the NCAA Tournament for the tenth time and St. Thomas is making its 12th appearance in the NCAA postseason.
UMHB will offer live audio streaming of Friday night's game through the school's athletic department web site at
www.cruathletics.com. Augustana will also provide live statistics for all of the games at the Sectional Tournament. The live stats link is:
http://www.augustana.edu/athletics/mbasketball/xlive.htm. There is a still a possibility of a live video steam, but nothing is definite at this point.
Tickets are $7 for adults and $4 for students, children and seniors. UMHB will have a reserved allotment of tickets available for purchase on game day. The ticket windows will open at 3:30 on Friday, but with the games being played as a split session, UMHB tickets will only be good for the UMHB-Augustana game.
