WINONA LAKE – The Grace College men’s basketball team  has punched its ticket to the 2015 NAIA Div. II National Championships in Branson, Mo.

The Lancers were the second-to-last bubble team to receive an invite to the tournament, earning the seventh of eight at-large bids to the 32-team field.

Grace, who was ranked No. 24 in Wednesday’s NAIA poll, will play No. 7 seed Bellevue (Neb.) in the opening round of the tournament. The Lancers and Bruins will face off on Thursday, March 12 at 11:15 a.m. (ET).

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Grace enters the tournament with a record of 21-10 although the Lancers have dropped three straight. Grace’s last appearance at NAIA Nationals resulted in a run to the national semifinals in 2013. This year’s tournament will make six trips in eight years to NAIA Nationals under head coach Jim Kessler.

“This trip is a gift based on the body of work for our season. To win 11 games in this league is hard, and making NAIA’s is a tribute to how this team dug and clawed all season,” Kessler said. “Sometimes you go to this tournament with too high expectations and play tight. This year we will be going with great appreciation and without pressure as the underdog, similar to how we did two years ago when we made it to the semifinals.”

Grace’s opponent Bellevue has an overall record of 28-5. The Bruins will be making their 16th trip to NAIA Nationals, second-most among the 2015 tournament field behind only the host College of the Ozarks. Bellevue made the tournament as the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament champion. Bellevue ranks No. 29 in NAIA Div. II with 80.0 points per game. The Bruins have six players who score at least 7.0 ppg, led by Percy Lemle and Taylor Young with 16.3 ppg.

The winner of the Grace/Bellevue contest will advance to the round of 16 game against either No. 10 Midland (Neb.) or Southern Oregon on Friday, March 13 at 2:45 p.m.

“The key for us is to focus on the goal of playing the best team ball we can. We play ‘we ball’ and not ‘me ball.’ We haven’t played anyone that we couldn’t hang with this year,” Kessler said. “With this team you never know who’s going to pull us through each game. It’s very much a team effort with these guys. We can’t win any other way.”

Follow along the NAIA National Championship with live video HERE. A full-tournament pass is available to watch all games online for $20.

If Grace does not advance to the national semifinals of the NAIA National Championships, the Lancers will then return home to play in a second national tournament – the NCCAA Div. I National Championships. Grace receives an automatic bid as the host school and was the national finalist in the 2014 tournament.