ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Wednesday at 7 p.m., Concordia-St. Paul (18-10) will host the University of Mary (9-17) in the first round of the NSIC Sanford Health Basketball Tournament at Gangelhoff Center. The Golden Bears are the third seed from the South Division while the Marauders are the sixth seed from the North Division.

Concordia-St. Paul athletics and Concordia Activities Board (CAB) have teamed up to provide free student tickets with CSP ID to the first 150 Concordia students, free pizza to all CSP students in the Bear Den and a half court shot contest for a chance to win a $500 gift card to the CSP Bookstore.

It's the fourth NSIC Tournament home game in program history and the first since the 2010-11 season. Concordia is 2-11 all-time in the NSIC Tournament and 0-2 in first round games since the tournament expanded to include all 16 teams in the 2002-03 season. Concordia is 1-2 in home NSIC Tournament games, with the only win being the first time the program hosted a tournament game in 2006-07.

It's a key matchup for a Concordia team that is currently on the outside looking in at the NCAA Central Region Rankings, but with the #7, #9 and #10 teams all dropping a game since the first rankings were published last week, the team has momentum going into the next rankings which will be released Wednesday afternoon before the tournament game.

Concordia is 10-6 all-time against the Marauders including a 75-64 win earlier this year when the teams met at Gangelhoff Center on February 7. The Golden Bears are 11-3 at home on the year, 6-2 against the NSIC North Division and riding a three game winning streak into the postseason.

U-Mary has won three of its last four including a big win at St. Cloud State on Saturday to close out the regular season. But the Marauders went 1-7 against the NSIC South Division and 5-9 on the road.