Governors State Tops Balanced Field In Men's Basketball Tournament

CHICAGO --- For the second year in a row, the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament champion is anyone's guess after one game separated the top three teams during the regular season and no team had less than four losses.

Governor State University claimed the regular-season crown by the time the dust had settled, aided by a string of seven victories over its final eight games.  The Jaguars (20-8) open the eight-team tournament as the top seed when play begins on Wednesday at four separate sites.

Also hosting first-round matchups are No. 2 seed University of St. Francis – the defending tournament champ – and No. 3 Olivet Nazarene University, both of which finished just one game behind GSU in the league standings.  No. 4 seed Trinity Christian College (16-12) rounds out the four host sites.

Governors State gets No. 8 Indiana University Northwest (11-17) to begin the tournament, while St. Francis (20-7) will matchup against No. 7 Saint Xavier University (11-16).  Those two teams split during the regular season.

The other two contests feature No. 6 St. Ambrose University (13-15) at ONU (19-9) and No. 5 Indiana University South Bend (18-10) meeting Trinity Christian in Palos Heights.

The four winners advance to Friday's semifinal round with the championship game slated for Saturday.  The higher seeds in each round host.

Up for grabs in the tournament is the conference's second automatic qualifier to the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round March 13-14.  Governors State secured the first bid with its regular-season crown. 

Should Governors State also win the tournament, No. 2 seed St. Francis would gain the second bid.

The complete schedule follows:

Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Game #1: No. 8 seed Indiana Northwest (11-17) at No. 1 seed Governors State (20-8) --- 7 pm CT
Game #2: No. 5 seed Indiana South Bend (18-10) at No. 4 seed Trinity Christian (16-12) --- 7 pm CT
Game #3: No. 7 seed Saint Xavier (11-16) at No. 2 seed St. Francis (20-7) --- 7 pm CT
Game #4: No. 6 seed St. Ambrose (13-15) at No. 3 seed Olivet Nazarene (19-9) --- 6 pm CT 

Friday, February 27, 2026 (at site of highest remaining seed)
Game #5: Winner-Game #1 vs. Winner-Game #2 --- TBA
Game #6: Winner-Game #3 vs. Winner-Game #4 --- TBA 

Monday, March 2, 2026 (at site of highest remaining seed)
Game #7: Winner-Game #5 vs. Winner-Game #6 --- TBA

For the complete bracket, go to Bracket.