DEFENDING CHAMPIONS SET TO

HOST THANKSGIVING TOURNAMENT
November 22, 2006

FORT WORTH, TX:  The defending NAIA Division I National Champion Texas Wesleyan University men’s basketball team (5-1) is set to host the Texas Shootout on November 24th and 25th.  The tournament features three teams that qualified for the NAIA Division I and II national tournaments last season.

Tournament participants include three NAIA Division I teams and one Division II team as well as three national tournament qualifiers from last season.  The Westmont College Warriors are members of the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) in California.  Meanwhile the University of Sioux Falls Cougars (SD) won their first Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) championship last season and earned a birth as the 12th seed in the NAIA Division II National Tournament.  A familiar opponent in Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) foe Southwestern Assemblies of God University rounds out the field.  The Lions made their first appearance in the national tournament, losing a hard-fought game to top ranked Mountain State, last season after finishing second in the conference tournament.

The tournament will mark the first ever meeting between Texas Wesleyan and both Westmont and Sioux Falls.  Sioux Falls is off to a 6-1 start this season and was picked 8th in the NAIA Division II preseason poll.  Westmont enters the tournament with a record of 2-1 after going 18-13 last season.  SAGU enters the tournament at 2-4 on the young season.

Sixth ranked Texas Wesleyan (5-1) is coming off a convincing win over seventh ranked LSU-Shreveport last weekend.  The Rams topped the Pilots 72-58.

Head coach Terry Waldrop was excited about the caliber of teams in the Thanksgiving classic.  “Westmont is an outstanding program from California.  There is no doubt that they are a team worthy of a Kansas City bid and a high seeding would not surprise me at all.  Sioux Falls has returned much of a conference championship team.  They were successful at the national level last year, and this could be their year to really do some damage in the national tournament.  Southwestern represented very well in Kansas City last year.  They had a very strong recruiting year, and they will provide a great test to anyone they play.”

The Texas Shootout should be one of the strongest holiday classic fields in the country, and NAIA basketball fans should look forward to some very entertaining games.

The Texas Shootout

Friday, November 24:

6:00 p.m. – Westmont College (CA) vs. Southwestern Assemblies of God (TX)

8:00 p.m. – University of Sioux Falls (SD) vs. Texas Wesleyan University

Saturday, November 25:

2:30 p.m. – Southwestern Assemblies of God vs. University of Sioux Falls

4:30 p.m. – Texas Wesleyan University vs. Westmont College