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The Central College men’s basketball team returns to the National Tournament stage this evening, after a 15-year-absence. The 25th-ranked Dutch are 23-4 and earned an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Championship field by winning the Iowa Conference Tournament.

Central faces Illinois Wesleyan in the opening round of play, and Head Coach Mike Boschee says he’s looking forward to facing the Titans.

“I know they have a new coach, and [Illinois Wesleyan] is in a great league. The CCIW is always known as one of the top conferences in the country,” said Boschee. “We’re going to face a quality opponent with good players, but I know we certainly have a good team with good players as well, so it should be a good game and we’ll see what happens this weekend.”

llinois Wesleyan is 20-7 overall and earned an at-large berth out of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. The opening-round match-up between Central and Illinois Wesleyan is hosted at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where the top-ranked Bears will host Westminster College in another first-round pairing at 8:00 p.m. tonight. The winners of this evening’s games will face each other tomorrow at 7:00 p.m.

Tip-off between the Dutch and the Titans is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. tonight and will be broadcast live on 92.1 fm KRLS with Eric Gotschall providing courtside coverage, starting at 5:45 p.m.