March 14, 2010

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CIT Tournament Central
Game Day Central

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - St. Patrick's Day will mix Crimson and Navy in with the green on the LMU campus, as LMU men's basketball will be in the postseason for first time since the magical postseason run of 1989-90 season. The Lions have been invited to play in the second annual CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament and they will host University of the Pacific in the first round on St. Patrick's Day, Wednesday, March 17 at Gersten Pavilion with tip-off set for 7:35 p.m.

It will be the first-ever postseason game hosted at Gersten Pavilion as the Lions will continue its most successful season since that Elite Eight run 20 years ago. The Lions enter the postseason at 18-15 on the season, posting a 15-game turnaround from the injury-plagued three-win season from a year ago. It is the second best turnaround in the nation this season and the second best in program history.

"We are very honored to be participating in the 2010 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament," said Head Coach Max Good, who was named the West Coast Conference Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com. "Every coach will tell you that the goal of every team is to make the NCAA tournament, but to be able to continue our season by competing in a tournament of this quality is an accomplishment that is very important to the growth of this program."

Tickets for the first-ever postseason basketball game at Gersten Pavilion are $25 for lower level, $15 for upper level and $5 for students. Tickets are available online at LMULions.com immediately. The LMU ticket office will open at 9 a.m., Monday and will be on sale at the box office while tickets are available or until halftime of the game. Fans can also call the LMU ticket office at (310) 338-LION.

"The field of this year's tournament is quite impressive and to have the chance to play a team at the level of Pacific in a postseason environment will be a great challenge," said Good. "This opening round game will be a big test for our team."

Pacific took home a share of the 2010 Big West Conference regular season title by going 12-4, tied with UC Santa Barbara. The Tigers fell in the semifinals of the conference tournament to Long Beach State, 68-61. They enter the CIT at 20-11 overall

The first 750 students will get the St. Patrick's Day Go Lions t-shirt sponsored by the Loyolan.

As has been the case for most of the year, the Hannon Field Tailgate will be the place to be for pregame on St. Patrick's Day. The tailgate party will open at 5:30 p.m. In addition, Pregame at the Loft will also be open at 5:30 p.m.

The CollegeInsider.com Post-season Tournament (CIT), which was played for the first time in March of 2009, features 16 teams not participating in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the National Invitational Tournament. The tournament is single elimination and consists of five rounds, all being played at on-campus sites, which will be determined by seeding.

The field for the 2010 CIT will be announced on Sunday March 14, following the announcement of the fields for both the NCAA and NIT. First round action will begin on March 16. The championship game, which will be televised nationally on Fox College Sports, will be played on March 30. Old Dominion defeated Bradley (in Peoria, Illinois) to win the inaugural CIT.

The game can be heard live on KXLU 88.9 FM and will also be streamed live and can be found through links on LMULions.com.