(LEBANON, Ill., March 5)--The top two seeds in the 2008 American Midwest Conference Men's Basketball Tournament will battle for the conference crown on Saturday, March 8 at the Melvin Price Convocation Center in Lebanon, Ill.

Top-seeded McKendree University will play host to No. 2 seed Columbia College for the league's automatic bid to the 2008 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship to be held March 19-25 in Kansas City, Mo. McKendree reached Saturday's championship contest with an 81-72 victory Wednesday at home against Harris-Stowe State University.

Columbia advanced to the conference title game thanks to a 76-69 home win Wednesday at home against the University of Illinois at Springfield. The Cougars' win assured there would be a new AMC Tournament champion in 2008, as the Prairie Stars had won the previous two conference tournament championship games.

McKendree and Columbia will each enter Saturday's game with 25 regular-season victories. The Bearcats, ranked No. 10 in the final NAIA Division I regular-season poll, are 25-6 on the year. The No. 15-ranked Cougars pushed their record to 25-7 overall. McKendree has reached the 25-win mark for the first time since the 2004-05 campaign, while Columbia has posted at least 25 wins for the first time since 2003-04.

The teams met twice in 2007-08, with McKendree taking both games. The Bearcats registered a 79-50 win at home back on Jan. 26 before edging Columbia 73-70 in the final AMC regular-season game of the year on Feb. 26.

In AMC Tournament play, the two squads are evenly matched. McKendree holds a slight 5-4 edge in the post-season series with Columbia. In fact, Saturday's game will mark the ninth consecutive year that the Bearcats and Cougars will meet in the AMC Tournament. It will be the first time since 2002-03 that the institutions will face off in the conference title game.

Following Saturday's AMC Men's Basketball Tournament championship game, the 2008 AMC All-Conference team will be announced. To view the complete AMC Men's Basketball Tournament bracket, click here.