OWENSBORO, Ky. – For the second time in three seasons, the Kentucky Wesleyan College men's basketball team earned a berth in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championship tournament.  The Panthers are slotted as the No. 8 seed and will head to regular season co-champion and No. 1 seed Hillsdale College in the first round.  The first of four quarterfinals on Tuesday with tip off set for 6:00 pm CT.

Tickets for the game can be purchased online by clicking HERE.  Ticket prices are as follows: Adults $10, Senior (65+) $7 and Child $7.

The Kentucky Wesleyan Alumni Association is pleased to host a watch party on Tuesday night at Legends Sports Bar and Grill on Highway 54.  The game will be livestreamed while food and beverages will be available for purchase.

The Panthers have only missed the G-MAC tournament once since the conference was founded in 2013.  They are looking for their fourth semifinal appearance and first since the 2016-17 season.

Wesleyan and Hillsdale have one postseason meeting coming in the 2000-01 season.  The Panthers prevailed 73-71 in the Great Lakes Regional Championship in front of a sold out crowd at The Owensboro Sportscenter.

The two teams met twice already this season with the home team winning both match ups.  The Panthers fell by 12 in Hillsdale before beating the Chargers by one at The Sportscenter.  Sasha Sukhanov tipped-in a jumper with 0.4 seconds remaining to give Wesleyan the 67-66 win.  That was the last loss of the season for the Chargers as they closed the regular season with a five game win streak.

Guard Adam Goetz paces the Panthers with 16.9 points per game, a mark good for seventh in the G-MAC.  Goetz is shooting 37.6% from beyond the arc to sit tenth in the conference.  Guard Wyatt Battaile also ranks in the Top 10 in 3-point field goal percentage, sitting eighth at 38.8%.  Goetz and Battaile are the lone Panthers averaging in double figures while grabbing over 100 rebounds this season.

Jo Griffin has dished-out 98 assists on the year, sitting eighth in the G-MAC.  The Panthers are averaging 15.9 assists per game.

The Chargers have the top defense in the league, holding opponents to 65.1 points per game.  They also have the best assist-to-turnover in the G-MAC at 1.54 (380 assists and 246 turnovers).  Guard Connor Hill snuck in the Top 10 in assists per game with a mark of 3.6.

Forward Patrick Cartier paced the conference with a .635 field goal percentage in the regular season.  The redshirt freshman also sits 10th in the G-MAC at 15.8 points per game.  He is one of four Chargers averaging in double figures this season along with Dylan Lowry (14.4), Davis Larson (13.0) and Austen Yarian (11.3). 

G-MAC Quarterfinals
Tuesday, March 3
Game 1 - No. 7 Lake Erie at No. 2 Findlay – 6:30 pm CT
Game 2 - No. 6 Ohio Dominican at No. 3 Walsh – 6:30 pm CT
Game 3 – No. 5 Malone at No. 4 Cedarville – 6:45 pm CT
Game 4 – No. 8 Kentucky Wesleyan at No. 1 Hillsdale – 6:00 pm CT

G-MAC Semifinals (at Highest Remaining Seed)
Thursday, March 6
Game 5 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
Game 6 – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4

G-MAC Championship
Saturday, March 7
Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6