Indianapolis, Ind. – The Le Moyne College men's basketball team has been selected to the NCAA Men's Basketball Championships for the 11th time, as announced by the NCAA Men's Basketball Selection Committee on Sunday night on NCAA.com. The sixth-seeded Dolphins will face third-seeded Saint Anselm College in the NCAA Division II East Regional quarterfinals on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. at Southern Connecticut State's Moore Field House.
The remaining quarterfinal matchups in the East Region feature top-seeded and host Southern Connecticut State University taking on eighth-seeded University of Bridgeport, second-seeded University of New Haven facing seventh-seeded Bloomfield College and fourth-seeded Franklin Pierce University against fifth-seeded Philadelphia University. Southern Connecticut State captured the Northeast-10 Conference Championship over New Haven, Philadelphia won the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference championship over Holy Family University and Bridgeport claimed the East Coast Conference title over St. Thomas Aquinas College. The Southern Connecticut-Bridgeport winner will face the Franklin Pierce-Philadelphia winner in the regional semifinals on Sunday at 7:30 p.m., while the New Haven-Bloomfield winner and Saint Anselm-Le Moyne winner will square off in the other semifinal at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. The semifinal winners will play for the regional championship on Tuesday, March 18 at 7:00 p.m.
Le Moyne, which will be appearing in its first regional since back-to-back appearances in 1996 and 1997, enters the tournament with a record of 17-11, including wins in 10 of its last 14 games. The Dolphins, who earned the Southwest Division's third seed in the Northeast-10 Conference Championships, went 13-7 in conference action and advanced to the Northeast-10 semifinals for the third time in their 18 years in the conference, including twice in the last six years. The Dolphins have played eight games against the other four Northeast-10 Conference teams selected to the regional and were 3-5 in those matchups. The Dolphins won at New Haven on November 20 (79-71), defeated Saint Anselm at home on January 22 (76-74) and knocked off Franklin Pierce in Rindge in the Northeast-10 quarterfinals on March 2 (73-59).
The Dolphins are led by a pair of all-conference players in their final year of eligibility. Senior guard Nate Champion (Logansport, Ind./Logansport), a member of the Northeast-10 Conference Third Team, leads the Dolphins in scoring (16.3), assists (158, 5.6/gm), steals (42, 1.5/gm), while grabbing 4.3 rebounds per game. He is the only player in the 40-team East Region averaging at least 16 points, five assists and four rebounds. Graduate student center Jim Janson (Scotia, N.Y./Scotia-Glenville), who was selected to the Northeast-10 Conference Honorable Mention Team, is third on the team in scoring (14.3) and leads the Dolphins in rebounds (6.9), field goal percentage (67.8) and blocks (2.8). A pair of guards from the Hudson Valley also score in double digits for the Dolphins. Junior Naté Gause (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie/Quinnipiac) has scored 14.6 points per game, while grabbing 5.9 rebounds, in 20 games off the bench. Sophomore Qwadere Lovell (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Mount Vernon) tallies 10.4 points per game and has dished out 106 assists (the ninth-most in the NE-10) in 37.5 minutes per contest, the second-most in the conference behind only Champion.
2014 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball East Regional
1. Southern Connecticut State (27-2)
2. New Haven (21-8)
3. Saint Anselm College (20-7)
4. Franklin Pierce University (20-7)
5. Philadelphia University (25-6)
6. Le Moyne College (17-11)
7. Bloomfield College (20-8)
8. University of Bridgeport (18-10)
Regional Schedule (all played at Southern Connecticut State's Moore Field House, New Haven, Conn.)
March 15 – First Round games
March 16 – Regional Semifinals
March 18 – Regional Championship Game
National Schedule (all played at Ford Center, Evansville, Ind.)
March 26 – National Quarterfinals
March 27 – National Semifinals
March 29 – National Championship Game
Le Moyne NCAA Tournament History (4-14)
1958-59 – Williams – W, 72-66
1958-59 – St. Michael's – L, 70-71
1959-60 – St. Anselm – L, 75-88
1959-60 – Assumption – L, 68-94
1963-64 – Youngstown St. – W, 64-53
1963-64 – Akron – L, 38-62
1964-65 – Assumption – L, 58-76
1964-65 – Hartwick – L, 68-70
1965-66 –Philadelphia U. – L, 61-83
1965-66 – Potsdam St. – W, 86-63
1967-68 – Buffalo St. – L, 66-83
1967-68 – Northeastern – L, 54-67
1968-69 – Montclair St. – L, 77-81
1968-69 – Albany – L, 70-71
1987-88 – California (Pa.) – L, 88-91
1987-88 – Kutztown – W, 89-81
1995-96 – Franklin Pierce – L, 53-83
1996-97 – St. Rose – L, 76-92
