LEWISTON, ID-The Lewis-Clark State College men’s basketball team received an at-large berth to the 2002 NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, to be held March 13-19 at the Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, MO.

Lewis-Clark State (23-9, 11-3 Frontier) will take on Oklahoma Baptist University (29-4, 15-3 Sooner Athletic), Wednesday, March 13, at 2:15 PM Central. Oklahoma Baptist lost in the conference semifinal tournament, but was the regular season champion, and are the 5th seed in the tournament. The winner will advance to the second round, March 15, for a 9:00 AM meeting against either Martin Methodist University or #12 Spring Hill College.

Oklahoma Baptist University’s men’s basketball program has a storied tradition of excellence. They won they national championship in 1966 and were the runners-up in 1965, 1967, 1993, and 1997. OBU finished fourth in 1994. Last year, the Bison were ousted by Pikeville, 88-83, in the Elite Eight. Dujuan Brown (25.8 ppg, 6.9 rpg) was an All-Tournament Team selection. He was also selected preseason All-America by Street & Smith’s magazine. OBU has the fifth-best scoring offense in the country, averaging 94.2 ppg. The Bison are not accustomed to close games, blowing teams out to a tune of 20.7 ppg, second-best in the nation. Only top-seeded Georgetown College has a better scoring margin. Oklahoma Baptist has the eighth-best field percentage, 51.2%. They also can shoot free throws, 71.8%, 15th-best in Division I. The Bison also control the boards, out-rebounding their competition by an average of 8.3 per game, ninth-best. The afore mentioned Brown leads the country in scoring. Second-year head coach Dave Tolin has had immediate success since coming on board last year. He has amassed a two-year record of 54-13 and led the team to the NAIA Division I Elite Eight. The Bison are no stranger to playing West Coast teams. OBU defeated Point Loma Nazarene, 98-60, and Christian Heritage, 100-85, in San Diego, CA, earlier this season.

Lewis-Clark State is making its third appearance in the NAIA National Tournament. In the Warriors’ last appearance in 2000, L-C knocked off #4 seed Birmingham-Southern College, 79-61, before losing to Olivet Nazarene.