The West Virginia Wesleyan men's basketball team earned a second-consecutive NCAA Tournament berth with an at-large selection by the Atlantic Region committee.
The Bobcats are a fourth seed in the tourney and will battle CIAA opponent Winston-Salem State today at 8:30 p.m. at West Liberty State University.
"The kids are very excited to still be playing in the postseason," Wesleyan coach Jim Boone said. "When we saw our name on the selection show last weekend, it was one of the best moments of the season. We're happy being a No. 4 seed and ready to go up against Winston-Salem."
The Bobcats enter the contest wirth a 21-8 record. Wesleyan lost in the semifinals of the WVIAC tournament to the defending conference champ West Liberty, 87-77.
The Bobcats are led by senior guard Raymont McElroy, who is averaging 21.7 points and 4.4 rebounds per game this season.
Following McElroy in the scoring column is junior forward Kelsey Williams, who is scoring at an 18.5 rate.
Senior guard Reggie Chambers is also averaging double digits at 13.0 points per game.
"We're going to need a lot of our scorers to come up big against Winston-Salem," Boone said. "And we're also going to need some bench players to step up and help out."
Winston Salem-State comed in with a 21-8 mark. The Rams, who are the CIAA regular season and tournament champions, are led by junior guard Justin Glover (15.3), senior guard LaMar Monger (15.1) and freshman forward WyKevin Bazemore (15.1).
Senior forward Michael Bland (6-8), sophomore forward Nequan Melvin (6-8) and junior forward Joseph Thompson (6-7) are keys in the paint for Winston-Salem State.
"We're going to have to rebound the basketball and limit them to one-chance points, because they're a big team," Boone said. "If we do what we have done all year offensively and defensively, I think we can be in the game."
The winner will play either West Liberty or East Stroudsburg Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
