For the third straight year, the chant echoed throughout McCown Gymnasium.

"Mass-a-chus-etts!"

The Winona State University men's basketball team advanced to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in Springfield, Mass., for the third straight year with a 68-60 win over Northern State on Tuesday night in the North Central Region championship game.

The Warriors (34-1) will play unbeaten and No. 1-ranked Grand Valley State (Mich.) at 5 p.m. March 26 at the MassMutual Center.

For the second time in three years, the Wolves (29-4) not only lost to the Warriors in the regional championship game, but also for the fourth time in a single season. WSU's four wins over NSU this season accounted for the Wolves' only losses.

"Words just can't describe it," said NSU junior forward Kevin Ratzsch, who scored 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting and was named to the all-tournament team. "They're a great team, and sometimes there's nothing you can do."

NSU, which entered the game having lost to WSU by 27, 5 and 33 points this season, came out in a 2-3 zone defense that gave the Warriors trouble early.

The Wolves focused much of their energy and their defense on WSU's John Smith, harassing him in the post and double-teaming him whenever he touched the ball.

Smith got off just three shots in the first half - one from beyond the arc - and missed them all. The senior center recorded just three points - all at the free-throw line - in the first half, and the Warriors took a slim, 29-26 lead at the intermission.

"I don't think we would have had any chance playing man-to-man, NSU coach Don Meyer said. "Sometimes you just feel that's what you have to do. We did it against Fort Hays a year or two ago and got lucky, so maybe we could get lucky again."

While NSU's execution of the game plan held the reigning national player of the year in check, luck, perhaps, also played a part.

With so much attention being focused on Smith, the Warriors were allowed some open looks from the perimeter butwere unable to shoot a high percentage in the first half.

WSU shot just 26.6 percent (10-for-35) from the field and 18.8 percent (3-for-16) from 3-point range in the first 20 minutes, allowing the Wolves to hang around despite committing 12 turnovers.

But Smith wasn't worried.

"We weren't playing our best, but I thought we were getting good shots, and I knew they were going to start to fall," Smith said. "I wasn't worried. I knew that zone would start to crack a little bit."

WSU made four of its first six shots in the second half, including a three-point play from Smith for his first field goal of the game. Just over a minute after Smith's layup and free throw, WSU's Quincy Henderson stole the ball in the backcourt and lobbed a pass to Jonte Flowers near the basket on the fast break. Flowers caught the ball and made the layup in midair, capping a 10-2 run that gave WSU a 39-30 lead with 16:42 remaining.

After two Luke Wicks free throws on the ensuing NSU possession cut the deficit to seven points, Flowers received the ball at the top of the key and looked to go inside to Smith. The perimeter defender sagged back to deny the feed inside and Flowers took advantage, drilling a 3-pointer from the top of the key to push WSU's lead to 10.

"We thought we'd see some more zone from them than we have in the past, but we didn't think it would be as much as they ran," WSU coach Mike Leaf said. "Early on, we got some wide open shots, but we just missed them, and then I thought we forced a couple early.

"Early on, they came over and would double on John so he couldn't get the ball and put it on the floor. A big key for us in the second half was to focus on getting him the ball inside to open up our outside shots."

Smith, who was named to the all-tournament team, went 3-for-4 shooting in the second half and finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds on the night. However, his presence and touches down low opened things up for teammates, especially Flowers.

After NSU's Dan DeWitt hit a jumper from the elbow to cut WSU's lead to seven, Flowers responded with another 3-pointer from the top of the key. On the ensuing Wolves possession, the NCAA's all-time steals leader stole a pass along the sideline, raced to the other hand and threw down a reverse dunk, giving the Warriors their largest lead at 52-40 with 8:26 remaining.

As Flowers stepped to the free-throw line late in the game, the majority of the standing room-only crowd of 3,997 started another chant - "M-V-P" - and for good reason.

Flowers, who has terrorized zone defenses with his outside shooting and his ability to find open spots and consistently connect on mid-range jumpers, was 5-of-8 shooting from the field and 2 of 4 from beyond the arc in the second half en route to finishing with a game-high 33 points after going just 5-for-14 from the field and 2-for-6 from deep in the first half. He also added eight rebounds and four steals.

"They did a really good job with their game plan, trying to slow us down and take away some things we do offensively," said Flowers, who was named the tournament's most outstanding player. "We kept playing our game and eventually things went our way."

It was Flowers' fourth-highest scoring output of the season and the highest single-game output from an individual player in the regional. It was also the second time this season that he scored 30-plus points against NSU. Flowers dropped 34 points on the Wolves in Aberdeen, S.D., in the first matchup this season.

"I think he should be playing NFL football," Meyer said. "That's what he is, a football player. But he's an athletic football player. He could be a great (defensive) back."

Levi Hamilton scored 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting, and Robert Thomas and Craig Nelson each added nine for NSU, which shot 45.7 percent (21-for-46) on the night.

David Johnson scored eight points, and Ben Fischer had seven points and seven rebounds for WSU, which outrebounded the Wolves 38-30, including a 16-5 advantage on the offensive boards that led to a 13-1 advantage in second-chance points.