Sports Editor
Though CSU Bakersfield men’s basketball team lost in the Western Athletic Conference tournament final, the Roadrunners season will continue.
CSUB has been selected to the National Invitation Tournament.
The eighth-seeded Roadrunners will take on No. 1 seed California in the first round of the NIT. The game will be televised on ESPN2 on Tuesday, March 14 at 8:15 p.m.
After defeating Utah Valley University 81-80 in quadruple-overtime in the WAC tournament semifinals, the Roadrunners were defeated by New Mexico State University 70-60 in the WAC tournament finals.
CSUB (22-9) is making its first-ever appearance in the tournament.
“We definitely came up short of our ultimate goal, but it also shows the hard work we put in for us to win the regular season championship,” said redshirt-senior Matt Smith.
The Roadrunners are led by redshirt-senior forward Jaylin Airington and senior guard Dedrick Basile. Both players were named to the WAC Tournament All-Conference Team.
“It’s nice to go to the NIT,” said Airington.
The Golden Bears (21-12) finished sixth in the Pacific-12 Conference. Cal defeated Oregon State University and the University of Utah prior to being eliminated from the Pac-12 Conference semifinals with a 73-65 loss to the University of Oregon.
Sophomore forward Ivan Rabb leads the Golden Bears attack. He averages a double-double with 14 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game.
CSUB defeated Cal 55-52 on Dec. 28, 2014 in Berkeley in their only previous matchup.
The winner of this game will face the winner of the matchup between Colorado State University and the College of Charleston.
CSUB is scheduled to have a send-off for the team behind the Icardo Center today at 2 p.m.
