WINONA, Minn. -- It never gets old celebrating like this.

For the third consecutive season, the Winona State University men's basketball team was able to celebrate on its home court after winning a regional championship.

The Warriors sent Northern State University back to Aberdeen, S.D., on the short end of a 68-60 score in the North Central Region championship game, earning Winona State its third consecutive trip to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight.

WSU (34-1) will play unbeaten and top-ranked Grand Valley State (Mich.) at 5 p.m.  next Wednesday at the  MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass.

"I could do this 100 times and it probably wouldn't get old," WSU senior John Smith said.

It also never gets old beating your biggest rival in the biggest games.

The victory was the fourth this season over the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference rival Wolves, who now have dropped 10 in a row to WSU the past three seasons.

The Warriors also beat Northern State (29-4) four times two seasons ago, earning their first trip to the Elite Eight. That season, of course, WSU won the national championship.

"That was a heck of a basketball game," WSU coach Mike Leaf said. "Both teams played their hearts out and left everything on the floor."

This matchup was much tighter than the game just nine days ago, when WSU won 73-40 in the NSIC tournament title game.

It also was closer than the 27-point whipping the Warriors put on the Wolves in Aberdeen, S.D., and felt much more like the middle matchup the Warriors won by just five points.

"It's so tough to beat a team three or four times," said WSU point guard Travis Whipple, who started his career at Northern State. "It was a difficult task, but we were able to come out with the win. This is awesome."

Certainly is was a frustrating end for the Wolves, who haven't been able to solve the Warriors.

"Words can't describe it," Northern State junior Kevin Ratzsch said. "They're a great team and sometimes there's nothing you can do."

The Warriors struggled against Northern State's 2-3 zone defense in the first half, making just 10 of 35 shots from the field.

For the second game in a row, though, they managed a lead at halftime despite a slow start. They led Nebraska-Omaha 26-25 in Sunday's semifinal before winning 80-67.

Almost immediately in the second half, WSU started to stretch its lead. Smith scored his first field goal and completed a three-point play for a 35-30 lead.

Quincy Henderson's 18-footer pushed it to seven and Jonte Flowers' basket off a lob by Henderson gave WSU a 39-30 lead.

Smith added another layup with 14:42 remaining to put the Warriors ahead 42-32.

"I have to credit Northern," said Flowers, who scored 33 points to lead the Warriors. "They did a very good job with their game plan trying to slow us down and take away some of the things we do offensively.

"As a team, we just stay together. That comes from experience and we've been together a long time. We know how to change the tempo of the game. We stayed within our game and eventually things went our way."

Flowers, the older brother of University of Wisconsin guard Michael Flowers, had a steal and reverse dunk at the 8:21 mark to give the Warriors a 52-40 lead — their biggest of the night.

From there, they had to hold on for dear life.

Similar to last season's national championship game, in which the Warriors blew a seven-point lead in the final 45 seconds, this one nearly slipped away.

Northern State cut the lead to six points with 54 seconds to play and to five points with 46 seconds remaining.

Flowers made 9 of 10 free throws in the final 1:03 to help seal the victory.

"I thought they played well, especially down the stretch," Smith said. "I've seen that somewhere before. It's always nerve-wracking.

"Now we can relax for a little while, but I'm pumped to go back to Massachusetts."