Cal State Bakersfield men’s basketball team has accepted a bid to play in the National Invitational Tournament, and will face Cal in the first round on Tuesday night.
The Roadrunners lost 70-60 in the Western Athletic Conference championship game Saturday night in Las Vegas against New Mexico State. CSUB squandered a 29-20 halftime lead against the Aggies, who rallied in the second half with a big run to regain the lead. With the victory, New Mexico State received the WAC’s sole automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, and were selected as No. 14 seed to to play No. 3 Baylor in Tulsa later this week.
The loss dropped CSUB to 22-9 on the season but this will be the Roadrunners first appearance in the NIT, which features a 32-team field and concludes with a March 30 championship game at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Tuesday night’s game is expected to tip at 8:15 p.m. and can be heard live on NEWSTALK 1180/96.1 KERN with Corey Costelloe on the play-by-play. The game will also be televised on ESPN2. The winner of the game will face the winner of the Colorado State-College of Charleston matchup in the second round.
