Bracket

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The No. 7 Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team will make its first trip to the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship after receiving an at-large berth to the postseason tournament on Wednesday afternoon.

CSUSM (23-6) faces MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) (24-9) in the first round of the 32-team tournament on Thursday, March 14 at 4:15 p.m. PST. The single elimination format will take place from March 13-19 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.

The Cougars received the At-Large No. 4 bid and the No. 7-seed while MidAmerica Nazarene was dubbed At-Large No. 17, the final team to receive a bid to the tournament.

The winner of CSUSM-MNU will face the winner of Arizona Christian (20-9) and No. 10-seed Oklahoma Baptist (24-7) on Friday at 6:00 p.m. PST in the quarterfinals. The Cougars topped then-No. 2 OBU earlier this season, 75-65, on Nov. 30, 2012 in Las Vegas.

On the opposite side of quadrant four, No. 15-seed Xavier (La.) (24-7) plays Faulkner (Ala.) (28-5), while Rocky Mountain (Mont.) (21-12) faces No. 2 –seed Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) (29-4).

The Cougars qualified for the tournament through an impressive 2012-13 campaign, which saw CSUSM go 5-1 against NAIA Top 25 teams and 4-0 against squads in the top 10. The Cougars at one point won 14 straight games during the regular season and finished the regular season as winners in 15 of their last 16 contests.

CSUSM was ranked in the NAIA Top 25 every week of the season and has been included in the top 10 for nine weeks in a row.

MNU hails from the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC), where the Pioneers finished runner-up to conference champion No. 9 Evangel (Mo.). MNU ranks first in NAIA Division I in total assists (649), assists per game (19.67) and field goal percentage (.522). The Cougars and Pioneers have never met and the teams did not play any common opponents in 2012-13.

MNU is making its third NAIA tournament appearance. The Pioneers are 3-2 all-time in the postseason competition.

NeuLion, the NAIA's official video streaming company of 12 select NAIA National Championship events, will be broadcasting the first 28 games from Kansas City, Mo. An all-tournament pass (28 games) is available for $29.95, while a single day pass can be purchased for $9.95. For more information and to pre-register, click here.