No. 20 seed EMCC draws No. 13 seed Howard College to tip off next week’s NJCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in Kansas

SCOOBA – On the heels of claiming their fourth consecutive NJCAA Region 23 men's basketball championship, the 20^th-seeded Lions of East Mississippi Community College will take on No. 13 seed Howard College (Texas) during next Monday's opening round of the 2013 NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship to be played in Hutchinson, Kan.  The tournament's Game 3 pitting EMCC and Howard is set for a 2 p.m. CT tip-off at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.  

The EMCC-Howard winner will advance to meet home-standing and No. 4 seed Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College Tuesday evening (6:30 p.m. CT) in second-round tournament action.  The week-long, single-elimination tournament will conclude with next Saturday's (March 23) championship game and third-place contest.

Coach Mark White's EMCC Lions own the distinction of rating as the only Division I junior college program to have earned a berth in the men's basketball national tournament each of the last four years (2010-13).  Meanwhile, the 28-5 and 11^th-ranked Howard College Hawks hail from the powerhouse Western Junior College Athletic Conference, which has had a representative in the NJCAA Division I men's basketball national championship game each of the past six seasons (2007-12).  Howard, from Big Spring, Texas, claimed the 2010 national title and South Plains College (Texas) won last year's championship.

Winners of nine of their last 10 games, the 20-7 EMCC Lions won their fourth straight regional title by posting a 66-62 victory over division foe Northwest Mississippi Community College during Saturday night's championship contest of the 2013 NJCAA Region 23 Basketball Tournament played at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the Mississippi College campus in Clinton.  The four-time reigning MACJC North Division regular-season champions knocked off Mississippi Delta Community College (72-58) and Baton Rouge Community College (68-60) in last week's quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, to get to the title tilt.       

Highlighted by the first major change in the format of the NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship in its 66-year history, this year's tournament features a new single-elimination, 24-team format in a fully seeded bracket.  In addition to the 16 district champions as automatic qualifiers, the tournament field is also comprised of four teams from a pre-determined 'zone' plan (Districts 2, 7, 10 and 14 this year) and four at-large teams.

Additional tournament information on tickets, hotels and more can be found at www.njcaabbtrny.org.  All tournament games will be aired live on NJCAA TV (www.ihigh.com/njcaatv/).

2013 NJCAA Men's Basketball National Tournament Bracket

2013 NJCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL DIVISION I NATIONAL TOURNAMENT QUALIFIERS (#Seed)

March 18-23, 2013

Hutchinson, KS – Hutchinson Sports Arena

#1 Iowa Western CC (31-2) – District 11 Champion

#2 Spartanburg Methodist College, S.C. (32-0) - District 10 Champion

#3 College of Central Florida (30-3) - District 8 Champion

#4 Hutchinson CC, Kan. (31-3) - District 6 Champion

#5 Vincennes Univ., Ind. (31-2) - District 16 Champion

#6 Central Arizona College (29-4) - District 1 Champion

#7 East Georgia College (30-2) - District 13 Champion

#8 New Mexico JC (27-6) - District 5 Champion

#9 Northwest Florida State College (26-3) – At-Large

#10 Coffeyville CC, Kan. (31-2) – At-Large

#11 Salt Lake CC, Utah (28-4) – At-Large

#12 Hagerstown CC, Md. (29-4) - District 3 Champion

#13 Howard College, Texas (28-5) – At-Large

#14 Motlow State CC, Tenn. (25-3) – District 7 Champion

#15 Kilgore College, Texas (26-4) – District 14 Zone Entry

#16 North Platte CC, Neb. (29-5) – District 9 Champion

#17 Mineral Area College, Mo. (26-7) – District 4 Champion

#18 Shelton State CC, Ala. (25-8) – District 12 Champion

#19 Connors State College, Okla. (24-8) – District 2 Zone Entry

#20 East Mississippi CC (20-7) – District 15 Champion

#21 Lee College, Texas (24-10) – District 14 Champion

#22 Eastern Oklahoma State College (19-15) – District 2 Champion

#23 Walters State CC, Tenn. (17-16) – District 7 Zone Entry

#24 USC Salkehatchie, S.C. (15-17) – District 10 Zone Entry