Men's Basketball To Face SUNYIT In NCAA Division III Championship First Round

MEN'S BASKETBALL TO FACE SUNYIT
IN NCAA DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND

The Matchup: SUNYIT (22-6) vs. Elms College (26-1)
Date: Friday, March 6
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Site: The Burkman Gymnasium on the campus of St. Lawrence University (Canton, NY)
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INDIANAPOLIS, IN, March 2, 2008 - The NCAA announced brackets for its upcoming NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship on Monday morning, and for the fifth consecutive season, Elms College has earned a bid.

Elms College (26-1) will play a first round game against SUNYIT (22-6) on Friday, March 6 at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. Game time is 8:00 p.m.

The winner of the Elms College/SUNYIT game will then advance to the second round on Saturday, March 7 to face the winner of the Brooklyn (22-5)/St. Lawrence (20-6) game. That game will also be hosted at St. Lawrence.

Elms College punched its ticket into the field of 60 for the fifth consecutive year after earning one of only three Pool B bids nationally, as the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) is currently in the first of a mandatory two-year waiting period for an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Championship.  

The Blazers, who won both the NECC's inaugural regular season and tournament titles, have already posted a program-record 26 wins and are also in the midst of a program-record 16-game win streak.

Elms College, which defeated Becker 105-76 in last Saturday's NECC Tournament title game, enters the NCAA Division III Championship with the second most wins among the 60 teams - behind only St. Thomas' (MN) 27-0 mark.

Friday's game will mark the Blazers' first-ever meeting with the Wildcats, who make their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III Championship after posting a 78-49 win over Wells College in last Saturday's North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Tournament title game.

Of its potential second round opponents, Elms College is 1-0 against Brooklyn and 0-1 versus St. Lawrence.

The Blazers defeated Brooklyn 70-63 in the only meeting between the two teams back on January 11, 2003.

Friday marks a return trip for Elms College to Canton, where it fell 85-79 to St. Lawrence in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Division III Championship on March 2, 2007.