LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Cascade Collegiate Conference will kick off the start of the 2016-17 Men's Basketball Championship presented by U.S. Bank later today with four quarterfinal games at various campus sites throughout the conference. Fans can follow the action on the CCC webpage tournament site- Click Here or at CCCWEBTV for live webcast.
 
The teams will be playing for the newly named "Danny Miles Tournament Trophy" in recognition of the Hall of Fame coach from Oregon Tech who's career spanned 45 years coaching the Hustlin' Owls and earning three NAIA Men's Basketball national championships. Miles retired and the end of the 2015-16 season.

No. 7 Warner Pacific (12-16, 8-12 CCC) at No. 2 Eastern Oregon (22-7, 15-5CCC)
7 p.m. PST – La Grande, Ore.-Quinn Coliseum
 
In a matchup built from tiebreakers No. ranked Eastern Oregon takes on a dangerous seventh seeded Warner Pacific.
 
EOU, who finished in a three-way tie for 2^nd with Oregon Tech and The College of Idaho benefited from a Corban loss to SOU and their season sweep of Northwest to secure the second seed. The Mountaineers boast the best offense in the CCC at 91.0 points per game and control the offensive boards averaging 13.2 per outing. Bryan McGriff leads the league in scoring average at 21.4 and is second in rebounding with 9.7. The Mountaineers climbed to No. 13 in the most recent NAIA poll.
 
The Knights, as a result of winning the tiebreaker over Corban, come into the tournament as the seventh seed after a dramatic last second basket gave them the win over Northwest in the last regular season game. Colin Malcolm leads WPC offensively and on the glass averaging a team best 15.1 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.
 
No. 8 Corban (15-15, 8-12 CCC) at No. 1 Northwest Christian (24-4, 17-3 CCC)
7 p.m. PST – Eugene, Ore.-Morse Event Center
 
Earning their second straight regular season title, top seeded and 6th-ranked Northwest Christian will prepare to host eighth-seeded Corban in the quarterfinals.
 
The Beacons finished with the fourth highest scoring offense (88.1), the second ranked defense (72.9) with best scoring margin at + 15.2. NCU ranks tops in the CCC in rebounding average, collecting 44.2 per game. Double-double machine Jay Mayernik leads the Beacons averaging 15.6 points and 12.8 rebounds per game.
 
The Warriors fell to the eighth seed after losing the tie breaker with Warner Pacific. WPC swept Corban in their two meetings this season. Corban is fifth in scoring offense (87.2) and allowed (79.2) points per game. Chris Martin, Joel Johnson and A.J. Monterossi lead the Warrior attack averaging 14.4 and 12.9 (Johnson/Monterossi) points per game respectively.
 

 
No. 6 Northwest (19-9, 11-9 CCC) at No. 3 College of Idaho (22-8, 15-5 CCC)
7 p.m. MST – Caldwell, Idaho- J.A. Albertson Event Center
 
The College of Idaho comes in as the third seed after winning a coin  flip with Oregon Tech. The Yotes and Owls were tied through every tiebreaker leading to the coin flip that would decide the seeding for them both. The Yotes jumped nine spots in the latest poll to No.16 in the country.
 
CI leads the league in scoring defense allowing only 68.6 points per game. Steals are another calling card for the Yotes with a CCC best 9.7 average per game. Manny Morgan leads the conference in steals at 2.2 per tilt and is fourth in assists at 5.3 per game. Joey Nebeker has a team best offensive production with 13. 8 points per game while Aziz Leeks is tops in rebounding with 7.1 per game.
 
Michael Dupree leads a Northwest team that is second in scoring at 90.8 per game averaging 17.4 points. Ben Tucakovic averages 7.1 boards per game as NU is third in the league in rebounds at 42.7 per outing.
 
No. 5 Southern Oregon (22-8, 12-8 CCC) at No. 4 Oregon Tech (17-12, 12-8 CCC)
7 p.m. PST – Klamath Falls, Ore.- Danny Miles Court
 
No.22  ranked Oregon Tech landed in the fourth seed position after losing the tiebreaker coin toss against CI. As a result, rival and fifth seed Southern Oregon will make the short journey to the storied Danny Miles Court for this matchup.
 
The Hustlin' Owls have the second highest scoring player in the conference in Joel Yellow Owl (19.7) and are proficient in sharing the ball ranking first in the CCC in assists at 18.5 per game. Seth Erickson leads the CCC from three-point land averaging .558 and Bryan Beard leads the team in rebounds with 7.2 per game.

Southern Oregon's league leading free-throw percentage of .757 was never more important than on Sunday when Tristen Holmes converted two in the waning seconds of the win over Corban to secure the fifth seed. The Raiders are second in the CCC in blocked shots at 4.1 per game. Ben DeSaulnier ranks fourth in the CCC in scoring at 17.6 per game.
 
Wednesday's winners advance to the conference tournament semifinals on Saturday night at the campus sites of the top two remaining seeds.