The No. 16 Viking men's basketball earned itself an automatic bid to the NAIA Div II Men's Basketball Championship with an 85-71 in over William Penn in the championship game of the MCC Tournament tonight in Des Moines.

The Vikings came into tonight's game ready to play and were nearly unstoppable in the first half. GV jumped out to a 23-4 lead and held the Statesmen scoreless for over five minutes. All-American Corey Viet (Ackley, Iowa) netted 13 first half points on 6-of-7 shooting. Grant Burns (Monroe, Iowa) was fouled on a three-pointer with :01 and sank all three free throws for a 47-23 lead at the break. The Vikings had three players in double figures and shot 61.3% in the first half while holding WPU to 20.7% from the floor.

Grand View controlled the majority of the second half and was able to halt the Statesmen's runs until the 9:57 mark. GV led 64-44 at the time when WPU went on a 16-6 run to cut the lead to ten points, 70-60, with 3:03 left in the game. The Vikings regrouped with the help of a Kevin Smith (Ankeny, Iowa) dunk, an old-fashioned three-point play by Viet, and a Greg Schulz (Carroll, Iowa) trey to rebuild its lead to 17 points with :45 left. Grand View sunk 8-of-11 free throws in the final two minutes of the game that assisted in the winning effort and everyone in uniform was able to get a piece of the action tonight.

For the second game in a row, all five starters for Grand View scored in double figures. Viet finished with 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting and was 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Burns scored 19 points and dished out seven assists. Schulz and Smith added 16 points each and Smith collected a game-high 11 rebounds. Matt Banzhaf (Ackley, Iowa) chipped in 10 points along with five assists.

GV finished the game 57.7% (30-of-52) from the field and was 43.8% (7-of-16) from behind the arc. The Viking defense held the Statesmen to 38.7% from the floor.

Viking Head Coach Denis Schaefer was proud of his team's performance tonight.

"I was really impressed at how our guys came out and played to win tonight. They worked hard on both ends of the court and kept their composure during the late run by William Penn, a real tribute to our senior leadership. Tonight's win was a true team effort," said Schaefer.

Grand View (25-7) qualifies for its second consecutive trip the NAIA National Tournament, its fourth appearance under Schaefer.

The national tournament pairings will be announced on Wednesday, March 3^rd at 4 p.m.

NAIA Div II Men's Basketball Championship Info