POINT LOOKOUT, Mo – The Eastern Oregon University men's basketball team have qualified for its third consecutive Sweet 16 in the NAIA Div. 2 National Championships. The 14th-seeded Mountaineers are rewarded with a match-up against third-seeded Indiana Wesleyan University.

Eastern (23-8) has never played IWU or any opponent from the Mid-Central College Conference. The Wildcats (29-5) are trying to match their best record in school history that was achieved in 2006-07 when they went 30-5.

Indiana Wesleyan and EOU each have had 20-win seasons the past four years. IWU is 111-28 over that four-season span, a winning percentage of .798. In comparison the Mountaineers are 97-30, a winning percentage of .763.

The Wildcats are 5-2 in the Div. 2 National Tournament, including a 2-0 Sweet 16 record. Indiana Wesleyan made the 32-team field in 2007 and 2009. Like EOU, last season IWU fell in the national quarterfinals. The Wildcats have never gone past the elite eight.

Indiana Wesleyan met a Cascade Collegiate Conference opponent in both of its national tournament appearances. IWU won each of those games, Evergreen State 83-61 in 2007 and Oregon Tech last year 95-82. Both of those games were second round match-ups.

Three of the Wildcats' five losses this season have come to ranked opponents. The combined scoring margin of the losses is 34 points, with all losses coming 10 points or less. IWU broke a school record with 14 consecutive wins this season. Indiana Wesleyan enters Friday's game on a seven-game win streak.

The latest victory came Thursday with an 81-56 rout over Virginia-Wise in the opening round of the national tournament. Will Hubertz led four Wildcat double-digit scorers with 17 points.

Zach Coverstone leads Indiana-Wesleyan averaging just under a double-double with 18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. The 6-8 senior became only the second player in IWU to grab 1,000 rebounds in his career this season. The Columbia City, Ind. native is fourth in the country in blocks per game (2.88). Coverstone is the Wildcats all-time leader in career blocks with 266 in his four years at Indiana Wesleyan.

The Wildcats are first in the nation in three-point field goal percentage defense holding opponents to 27 percent shooting from behind the perimeter. When it comes to shooting three-pointers, IWU is fifth in the country making 39 percent. Indiana Wesleyan is fourth in NAIA Div. 2 in field goal percentage (.494).

IWU qualified for this year's National Tournament winning its third MCC conference title in the last four years. The MCC and CCC are the only leagues to send four teams to this year's 32-team field. The Mid-Central College Conference went 4-0 in the first round, while the Cascade Conference went 2-2.

Friday's game pitting the MCC champion versus the CCC runner-up will tip-off from Point Lookout, Mo. at 5:45 p.m. Central Time. The game will feature live video at www.WatchNAIA.com and live stats at www.naia.org. There is a live viewing party on the EOU Campus in the Quinn Coliseum in Room 127. Benchwarmers Pub and Grill in La Grande will also offer live viewing of every game in this year's tournament.