LA JOLLA, Calif. – The NCAA Committee announced the bracket for the Division II Tournament Sunday and awarded the UC San Diego men’s basketball team with the No. 8 seed in the West Region.  The Tritons will play Friday night at 9 p.m. against the University of Alaska Anchorage, the regional host. 

UCSD clinched a berth in the 64-team field with a win Saturday over Cal Poly Pomona in the California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament championship game. After a 17-point performance in the title game, Triton junior Henry Patterson was crowned the tournament’s most valuable player. UCSD is making its first Division II Tournament appearance.

“It’s very exciting since it’s UCSD’s first time getting there,” Patterson said. “When we’re long gone from this school we know we can always come back and say we started this tradition.”

Alaska Anchorage (25-5), ranked 11th nationally, qualified automatically as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion. The regional tournament will be held March 14-17 at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex on the UAA campus. 

Friday’s contest will be the first-ever matchup between UCSD and Alaska Anchorage.

“I really love playing teams we haven’t met before,” Patterson said. “It’s great because they don’t really know what we can do.”

Rounding out the West field are Chaminade, Central Washington, Seattle Pacific, Humboldt State and BYU-Hawaii as seeds two through seven, respectively.

The Tritons feature two All-CCAA honorees in Patterson and Clint Allard. Patterson, named to the league’s first team, has averaged 12.6 points per game and his .603 field goal percentage ranks third in the CCAA. Allard earned second team honors with his 10-point scoring average. He has averaged 4.79 assists per game, placing him second in the league in that category.