South Easton, Mass. The Northeast-10 regular season champion Falcons of Bentley College are the top seed for the 2005-2006 Northeast-10 Conference Men's Basketball Championship, presented by Anaconda Sports.
Bentley (20-7), and Stonehill College (21-5) shared the Northeast-10 Regular Season Title with identical 17-5 conference records. The Skyhawks will be the #2 seed by virtue of two regular season losses to the Falcons. It is the first time that Bentley has won back-to-back conference regular season titles and the fifth time overall. Stonehill has claimed its first regular season crown in eight years and the sixth in program history.
The University of Massachusetts Lowell has earned the #3 seed, followed by Saint Anselm at the #4 seed. All four teams earn first-round tournament byes. First round action begins Saturday, February 25 with four games. The winners move on to the quarterfinal round Monday, February 27.
First round games include #12 Le Moyne College at #5 The College of Saint Rose, #11 American International College at #6 Bryant University, #10 Pace University at #7 Southern New Hampshire University and #9 Franklin Pierce College at #8 Merrimack. All games tip off at 2:00 p.m. with the exception of the Franklin Pierce/Merrimack match-up that will begin at 1:00pm.
Quarterfinal games on February 27 tip off at 7:00 p.m. Bentley will host the winner of Franklin Pierce-Merrimack, Stonehill will host the winner of Pace/Southern New Hampshire, UMass Lowell will host the winner of AIC-Bryant, and Saint Anselm will host the winner of Le Moyne-Saint Rose.
The semifinal round will take place at higher seeds Thursday, March 2 at 7:00 p.m. The championship is slated for Saturday, March 4 at 1:00 p.m.
NOTES: This season marks only the third time in the league's history that there has been a tie for the conference's regular season championship (1984-85 Bentley/AIC, 1999-2000 Merrimack/Saint Anselm/AIC) Bentley won the program's only tournament title in 2002. The Falcons are the only program to reach the tournament every season. In addtion, under Jay Lawson, Bentley has posted its third 20-win season in the past five seasons Stonehill won the first two tournament championships and will be looking to add to the trophy case for the first time since the 1988-89 season. In that championship contest, Stonehill defeated Bentley in the highest scoring championship game in league history, 116-111. The Skyhawks have secured their second-straight 20-win season under Dave McLaughlin UMass Lowell has reached the finals three of the last five years and is 5-3 in tournament play (.727 winning percentage) Northeast-10 defending tournament champion Saint Anselm owns the most tournament victories with 32 and has won the most titles (6) Saint Rose has made the conference tournament semifinals twice in the six years in the NE-10. Coach Brian Beaury's teams have qualified for postseason play in each of his 20 years at the helm including 13 20-win seasons Last year, Bryant won its first NCAA regional title and also recorded the Northeast-10's first win in Elite Eight play with wins over Mount Olive (NC) and Tarleton State (TX) before falling to Virginia Union in the National Championship game Southern New Hampshire has advanced to the Northeast-10 Championship game twice, losing both times to UMass Lowell.The Penmen will be making their sixth-straight NE-10 tournament appearance Merrimack has won two NE-10 tournament titles, most recently in 2000. The Warriors claimed their other title in 1992. Franklin Pierce has qualified for every NE-10 tournament championship since joining the league in 2000. Pace's best showing in the conference tournament was a 2001 Final Four appearance. The Setters 76-73 win over Le Moyne was its first tournament win since knocking off, then New Hampshire College, 89-77 in 2001 AIC shares the record for most Final Four appearances with Saint Anselm (14) and holds the record for most runner-up performances with 5 Le Moyne has gained berths in each of the last five conference tournaments. The Dolphins last tournament win was in 2003 over Merrimack. Le Moyne won the 1997 tournament title. 2005-06 Northeast-10 Conference Men's Basketball Championship Tournament
Presented by Anaconda Sports
First Round - Saturday, February 25
Game 1:#12 Le Moyne (12-15) at #5 Saint Rose (18-9) 2:00 p.m.
Game 2:#11 American International (13-14) at #6 Bryant (19-8) 2:00 p.m.
Game 3:#10 Pace (12-15) at #7 Southern New Hampshire (17-10) 2:00 p.m.
Game 4:#9 Franklin Pierce (13-14) at #8 Merrimack (14-13) 1:00 p.m.
Quarterfinals Monday, February 27
Game 5: Game 1 Winner at #4 Saint Anselm (20-7) 7:00 p.m.
Game 6:Game 2 Winner at #3 UMass Lowell (19-8)7:00 p.m.
Game 7:Game 3 Winner at #2 Stonehill (21-5) 7:00 p.m.
Game 8:Game 4 Winner at #1 Bentley (20-7) 7:00 p.m.
Semifinals Thursday, March 2
Game 9:Game 5 Winner at Game 8 Winner 7:00 p.m.
Game 10: Game 6 Winner at Game 7 Winner7:00 p.m.
Championship Saturday, March 4
Game 11: Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner 1:00 p.m.
RELEASE COURTESY OF THE NORTHEAST-10 CONFERENCE
OFFICE OF MEDIA RELATIONS