College basketball: Eastern Oregon University basketball programs earn NAIA tournament qualifications

Published 3:15 pm Friday, March 3, 2023

LA GRANDE — The Mountaineers are on to the NAIA Tournament.

Both the Eastern Oregon University men’s and women’s basketball programs earned their selections into the NAIA tournament on Thursday, March 2. The women’s team earned its automatic bid by way of winning the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament, drawing a three seed in the national bracket. On the men’s side, the Mountaineers earned an at-large bid after coming up just one game shy of a conference championship — the team earned a 12 seed in the NAIA tournament.

The Eastern Oregon women’s team will face St. Mary (Kansas), a team from the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference that went 21-10 overall this year. The Spires finished fifth overall in the conference regular season standings, but went on a major run to end the year. St. Mary is riding a six-game winning streak, which included a run to winning the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament — the Spires defeated No. 20 Sterling in the semifinals and defeated Tabor in the finals.

The Mountaineers have been nearly flawless this year, running up a 29-2 overall record that included a 21-1 clip in conference play — the team is currently riding a 19-game winning streak. Eastern Oregon ran through the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament, defeating No. 10 Lewis-Clark State College 75-59 in the championship game. The team finished No. 14 in the last regular season coaches poll. The Mountaineers are anchored by four all-conference players.

Eastern Oregon will play its first-round matchup against Saint Mary and potential second-round matchup in Wichita, Kansas. The winner will face the victor of Dakota State (25-6) and Morningside (17-12). The Mountaineers are scheduled to tip off against the Spires at 4 p.m. on March 7.

On the men’s side, Eastern Oregon is slated to face No. 24 Thomas More (Kentucky). The Saints play in the highly competitive Mid-South Conference, where the team placed third in the conference regular season standings with a record of 22-8 overall and 15-7 in conference play. Thomas More was eliminated in the Mid-South semifinals by No. 21 Freed-Hardeman.

Eastern Oregon has compiled a 21-10 record overall and a 16-6 tally in conference play. The Mountaineers earned their way to the Cascade Collegiate Conference championship game, but lost 87-56 to No. 1 College of Idaho. The Mountaineers are led by Cascade Collegiate Conference player of the year Phillip Malatare.

Tip-off between Eastern Oregon and Thomas More is scheduled for 6 p.m. on March 7 in Butte, Montana.