Northwest Missouri State celebrates the men’s MIAA tourney title. (photo/Bearcatsports.com)

The Northwest Missouri State University men’s basketball team secured the MIAA’s automatic bid and the NCAA Central Region’s top seed to the 2016-17 NCAA Tournament. The Bearcats will now host a seven-game regional tournament in Maryville, Mo., starting Saturday, March 11.  Northwest’s first round game against No. 8 seed Upper Iowa is scheduled for Saturday, March 11, at 6 p.m. at Bearcat Arena. The second round will be on Sunday, March 12 and the Sweet 16 round will be on Tuesday, March 14. The National Championship Elite Eight will be held in Sioux Falls, S.D., starting on March 22. Northwest has advanced to the Central Region championship game each of the past three seasons.  The Bearcats are 29-1

Sunday night, the Truman men’s basketball team found out that it would be playing in its first NCAA Tournament in 11 years. The Bulldogs were given the No. 7 seed in the Midwest Region and will take on the No. 2 seed, Ferris State, on Saturday in Louisville, Ky.  Truman upset No. 12 Southern Indiana in the quarterfinals of the GLVC Tournament, 69-68, before falling to Lewis in the semifinal round, 85-75.  The Bulldogs enter the tournament 22-9.

The Drury Lady Panthers captured their fourth Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament championship with a 67-63 win over Lewis at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana on Sunday. The Lady Panthers get an automatic bid and are the 2nd seed in the Midwest regional and play Bellermine on Friday.  Drury improved to 23-8.  The GLVC title is the fourth for the Lady Panthers in their program history and the second one in the three-year tenure of head coach Molly Miller. It marks the eighth conference championship in the 17-year history of Drury women’s basketball counting their four titles in the Heartland Conference.

The Central Missouri Jennies Basketball team is heading back to the NCAA Postseason. The NCAA announced tonight, via their selection show that the Jennies earned the No. 6 seed in the Central Region. They will take on third-seeded Minnesota State-Moorhead.  UCM went 22-5 in the regular season and finished in second place in the MIAA standings with a 15-4 conference record. This past weekend, the Jens went 1-1 at the MIAA Tournament, losing in the semifinal round to eventual champions, Emporia State.