MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Forester men’s basketball team learned they will be hitting the road to Glendale, Ariz. to compete in the 2024 NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship First & Second Rounds, presented by Ballogy, slated for March 15-16 at the ACU Events Center.

Huntington will be making their third straight trip to the big stage. The Foresters, an 11th seed, received an at-large bid and will face No. 6 Antelope Valley (Calif.) on Friday, March 15 with tip-off slated for 3:30 p.m. MST. It will be the first meeting between these two programs.

Huntington heads into the tourney with a record of 21-9, which includes handing No. 1 Grace their only loss of the year. This is the 11th time the Foresters have advanced to an NAIA postseason tournament.

Antelope Valley received an automatic bid as the Cal Pac regular season and tournament champions. The Pioneers bring a 26-4 record into the tourney which includes a 19-1 conference record. This is UAV’s second consecutive trip to nationals. As a program, the Pioneers have appeared in five NAIA tournaments.

The other two teams in the Glendale bracket include host and 3rd-seeded Arizona Christian and 14th-seeded Saint Katherine (Calif.).

HU is one of 37 repeat qualifiers from 2023. The Crossroads League is one of four conferences with five representatives in the field. The other three conferences include the Golden State Athletic Conference, Great Plains Athletic Conference and the Sun Conference.

Ten teams in this year’s 64-team field have captured a red banner in their history.

The 64-team field includes 36 automatic qualifiers and 28 at-large selections. The tournament begins with the NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship First & Second Rounds at 16 host sites throughout the country. The winner from each site advances to the final site in Kansas City (Mo.) for a 16-team single-elimination tournament that runs from March 21-26 at Municipal Auditorium.