FERRIS EARNS NCAA DIVISION II NATIONAL TOURNAMENT BID

Bulldogs To Face Northern Kentucky In Great Lakes Region Quarterfinals

FSU, which is presently 21-8 overall, is the region's seventh seed and will face second-seeded Northern Kentucky this Friday (March 9) at 3:30 p.m. (EST) in Romeoville, Ill. Lewis University earned the top seed and will serve as the tournament host with the games to be played in LU's Neil Carey Arena.

Advanced tickets for the Great Lakes Regional may be purchased by calling Lewis Athletics at (815) 836-5247 or by visiting the Lewis Athletics office, located adjacent to Neil Carey Arena. Tickets will be sold by session – Friday afternoon, Friday evening, Saturday and Monday – and are $10 for adults and $5 for students. An all-sessions ticket for adults is offered for $25.

Broadcast coverage of FSU’s NCAA Tournament games is slated to be carried live by local radio station WBRN-1460 AM and accessible via the internet by clicking on the Bulldog Athletics Webcast icon at www.ferris.edu/sports. Rob Bentley of the FSU Athletics Communications Office will handle the play-by-play coverage.

In addition to the Bulldogs, defending NCAA-II National Champion Grand Valley State and Gannon of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) also received tourney berths. GVSU is seeded third in the eight-team field and will meet sixth-seeded Gannon in Friday's first quarterfinal game at 1 p.m. (EST).

The other quarterfinal round games Friday feature host Lewis versus eighth-seeded Bellarmine (Ky.) at 7 p.m. (EST) and fourth-seeded Drury (Mo.) taking on fifth-seeded Southern Illinois-Edwardsville in the 9:30 p.m. (EST) nightcap.

The winners of Friday's four quarterfinal round games will advance to Saturday's (March 10) semifinals with the championship game set for Monday, March 12. The winner of the Ferris/NKU game will play the winner of the GVSU/GU game Saturday at 6 p.m. (EST) with the winner of the Lewis/Bellarmine game facing the winner of the Drury/SIUE game at 8:30 p.m. (EST). Monday's title game tips off at 8 p.m. (EST).

The Great Lakes Regional is one of eight regional tournaments that comprise the 64-team NCAA field. The Great Lakes Regional champion will advance to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight set for March 21-24 in Kearney, Neb.

Friday's contest represents the first meeting this season between the Bulldogs and the Norse. NKU, which is currently 21-7 overall this year, holds a 4-2 all-time series' edge over Ferris State heading into Friday's regional matchup.

The Bulldogs made their first NCAA-II appearance during the 1999-00 campaign and dropped 90-77 decision to Missouri-St. Louis (3/9/00) in the opening round of the Great Lakes Regional held at Highland Heights, Ky. FSU suffered a 82-69 loss to conference foe Ashland in its most recent (3/12/04) regional appearance three years ago at Quincy, Ill.

Here is the regional tournament schedule (All times are Eastern):

Friday, March 9 (Quarterfinals)
1 p.m. – (#6) Gannon vs. (#3) Grand Valley State
3:30 p.m. – (#7) Ferris State vs. (#2) Northern Kentucky
7:00 p.m. – (#8) Bellarmine (Ky.) vs. (#1) Lewis (Ill.)
9:30 p.m. – (#5) SIU-Edwardsville vs. (#4) Drury (Mo.)

Saturday, March 10 (Semifinals)
6 p.m. – Gannon/GVSU winner vs. Ferris/NKU winner
8:30 p.m. - Lewis/Bellarmine winner vs. SIUE/Drury winner

Monday, March 12 (Finals)
8 p.m. – Championship Game

The official tournament brackets can be found by visiting this link:
www.ncaasports.com

More Information on the regional tournament can be found at the link below:
Great Lakes Regional Website

Note: All times listed have been converted to Eastern time. Romeoville is in the Central time zone.