KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The University of St. Francis men's basketball team is heading to Indiana after it learned its bracket positioning in the 64 team NAIA National Tournament Opening Round on Thursday night. The Saints (23-7) will compete in the Marion Bracket of the Cramer Quadrant, which will be hosted by NAIA No. 4-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University next Friday and Saturday (March 13-14).

The winners of each of the 16 four-team brackets advance to the NAIA National Tournament Final Site, which is Kansas City, Mo.  That tournament takes place March 19-24 at Municipal Auditorium. 

Head coach Ryan Marks' club is the No. 15 seed in the four-team Marion Bracket and will square off against NAIA No. 4-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University (26-5) at 4:30 pm CST on Friday.  The Fighting Saints earned their bid by winning the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament championship. and the No. 2-seeded Wildcats (Crossroads League) earned their bid by securing one of the two automatic berths out of the Crossroads League.

No. 7-seeded Shawnee State University (Ohio) (24-6) will take on No. 10 seed Dalton State College (Ga.) (23-8) in the 6:30 pm CST game on Friday.  Shawnee State gained its Opening Round bid by winning the River States Conference regular-season title, while Dalton State claimed the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament title.

The two winners of Friday's contests advance to Saturday's 3 pm CST championship game for the right to go to the Final Site one week later in Kansas City.

For complete NAIA National Tournament Opening Round information, go to NAIA.

For the full NAIA National Tournament Bracket, go to Bracket.

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