NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- North Central won its first College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Men’s Basketball Tournament title since 2006 with a 75-58 win over Wheaton in the tournament final Saturday evening.

With the win, the Cardinals (20-7, 12-2) earned the CCIW’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championship, which will be announced on Monday. It will be their first NCAA appearance since 2006. Wheaton (21-6, 11-3) will look to earn its first at-large bid since 2010.

The game marked the first time that North Central had been in the conference tournament final since the first tournament was held in 2006. Wheaton’s last tournament final appearance came in 2009 when the Thunder defeated Elmhurst.

North Central clinched its first outright CCIW regular season title since 1990 with a win over Millikin last Saturday. The Cardinals shared the regular season title with Augustana last season.

Wheaton, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, defeated No. 3 seed Illinois Wesleyan in the first semifinal game on Friday 69-56, followed by No. 1 seed North Central topping No. 4 seed Augustana 63-56.

2012 CCIW Men's Basketball Tournament