Cedarville University earns first bid to NCAA Division II tournament

The Cedarville University men’s basketball team will play in the NCAA Division II tournament for the first time.

The Yellow Jackets (19-12) received an at-large berth when the 64-team field was announced Sunday. As the No. 6 seed in the Midwest Region, they will play No. 3 seed Hillsdale College (20-7) at noon Friday at Walsh University in North Canton.

Cedarville and Hillsdale both play in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. This will be their fourth matchup this season.

Hillsdale beat Cedarville 58-57 at Cedarville on Dec. 11 and 85-71 at Hillsdale on Jan. 29. The teams played again Friday in the semifinals of the conference tournament, and Cedarville won that game 68-66 on a steal and layup at the buzzer by Branden Maughmer.

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Cedarville then lost in the championship game Saturday 76-62 to No. 1 seed Walsh.

The other games in the regional are: No. 1 seed Walsh vs. No. 8 Davenport; No. 7 Findlay vs. No. 2 Ferris State; and No. 5 Missouri-St. Louis vs. No. 4 Truman State.

Friday’s winner will play in regional semifinals Saturday, and the regional championship game will take place on Monday. The regional champion will play in the Elite Eight in Evanvsille, Ind., on March 22.

Prior to making the move to NCAA Division II, Cedarville played in the NAIA Division II tournament five times and advanced to the semifinals once, the quarterfinals twice, and to the second round twice.

The moment we found out we are going dancing in the National Tourney!!! pic.twitter.com/EUZxoOGq9g
— Cedarville Men’s Basketball (@CedarvilleMBB) March 7, 2022

That's one way to send your team to the #GreatMidwest title game 👀@CUJackets @CedarvilleMBB pic.twitter.com/1u165n5lbB
— Great Midwest (@GreatMidwestAC) March 5, 2022