NCAA BASKETBALL: SJC Women Draw UMass Boston at Amherst, JWU Men Headed to Eastern Conn.
The Saint Joseph's College of Maine women will be at Amherst Friday to take on UMass Boston, while the Johnson & Wales men will travel to take on Eastern Connecticut State.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Courtesy of SJC Athletics Communications
STANDISH, Maine — The 2018 NCAA DIII Women's Basketball Tournament field has been announced and Saint Joseph's College (27-1, 16-0 GNAC) is scheduled to play UMass.-Boston (25-3, 12-2 LEC) at LeFrak Gymnasium on the campus of Amherst College on Friday.
Game times and ticket information will be released on gomonks.com at some point on Tuesday following a conference call with NCAA officials.
Led by 26th-year Head Coach Mike McDevitt '83, the Monks earned an automatic qualifier into the national tournament for the third-consecutive season - and fourth time in the last five years - after defeating Suffolk University, 73-59, in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship at the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday afternoon.
As the #2 seed in the Little East Conference (LEC) Tournament, UMass.-Boston faced off against top-seeded UMass.-Dartmouth in the LEC Championship on Saturday and upset the Corsairs on their home court with a 65-56 triumph. With the victory, the Beacons earned the program's first-ever LEC title and, subsequently, their first NCAA Tournament berth.
Friday's NCAA Tournament bout will be the first meeting between the Saint Joseph's and UMass.-Boston women's basketball programs since December 13th, 1988.
The other Friday night game in the four-team pod at Amherst will feature #1 Amherst College (27-0, 10-0 NESCAC) and Becker College (18-10, 11-5 NECC), with the winner facing the Saint Joseph's/UMass.-Boston winner at LeFrak Gymnasium on Saturday.
Courtesy of JWU Athletics Communications
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Two days after it upset top-seeded Albertus Magnus to win the GNAC Championship, the Johnson & Wales University men's basketball team learned its first round opponent. The Wildcats will make the short trip to Eastern Connecticut State to play the Warriors in Friday's opening round.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The other first round game features Middlebury versus Lebanon Valley at 5:30 p.m. Round two is Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens.
This will be the third meeting between Johnson & Wales and Eastern Connecticut State and the second during the postseason. The two teams have split the first two games. JWU won 72-59 on November 21, 2015 at the Ramapo College tournament. The Warriors claimed an 85-64 triumph on February 27, 2013, in the first round of the ECAC Tournament.
Johnson & Wales is in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years. The 2015-16 squad advanced to Sweet 16 before losing to Tufts. JWU has a history of knocking off the host school. The Wildcats defeated Ramapo, 114-106, on March 4, 2011 for the first NCAA win by any team at Johnson & Wales.
Founded in 1995, the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 13 member institutions and over 3,000 student-athletes across the New England region. Each year, the GNAC sponsors and administers 20 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunities and community involvement.
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