KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The NAIA made things official on Wednesday night as the Raven Men’s Basketball team officially learned their overall seeding and first-round opponent match up during the official bracket announcement of the 2019 NAIA Div. I Men’s Basketball National Championship.

Benedictine earned the overall No. 3 seed and will serve as the No. 1 seed in the Duer Bracket. They will take on Westmont (Calif.) at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 21 at historical Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City, Mo.

The Championship tips off on March 20 and concludes with the National Championship Game on Tuesday, March 26 inside historical Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City, Mo.

The Heart of America Athletic Conference serves as the official host conference for the Championship and the Ravens punched their ticket to the Championship by winning the Heart regular-season championship.

Tickets for the entire tournament can be purchased directly through the NAIA at www.NAIAhoops.com/tickets.

A limited number of tickets are available for purchase directly from the Raven Athletics Office starting on Thursday morning. Those tickets are available for $15 and are aimed at allowing our local supporters an opportunity to purchase tickets ahead of the Ravens first-round game. Contact Kim Fry at 913.360.7564 to make arrangements to order your tickets.

The Ravens are making their 11th overall appearance in the Championship and their fourth under head coach Ryan Moody. They last appeared in 2017 and have an overall tournament record of 13-9. Their 30 wins mark the most by any team in the 32-team Championship field.

Westmont finished with an overall record of 18-10 and earned one of the 19 at-large berths into this year’s Championship Field. They are making their 21st overall appearance in the Championship and their fifth straight appearance. They have an overall Championship record of 21-20.

— BC Athletics —