ALBANY – The College of Saint Rose will begin its quest for the 2011 National Championship on Saturday, March 12 against Northeast-10 Conference rival UMass Lowell. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 pm from the Dana Athletic Center on the campus of Bentley University where six of the eight teams competing this weekend will represent the NE-10.
Tickets are $8 for general admission and $3 for students, seniors, and children and are available at the door. There are no advance ticket sales. A free live video stream of the game, as well as all the contests at the East Regional, will be available at
www.northeast10.tv.
This marks the 12th NCAA Tournament trip in the College's 20-year NCAA era, and first in the last three seasons, for a program that owned the 11th highest all-time winning percentage in NCAA Division II entering this season. In 2008 at Bentley, the Golden Knights won a dramatic 85-75, four overtime thriller versus Philadelphia University and then dropped a tough 52-51 decision to Assumption in the regional semifinal to close out the year 23-8.
Saint Rose (21-8) arrives at this juncture having reeled off eight straight wins before falling 68-60 at Bentley in last Thursday's NE-10 semifinal.
The Golden Knights currently pace the conference in scoring (77.8), FT% (.787), and 3FG% (.380); and are second in FG% (.450). Saint Rose furthermore has had four players averaging double-figures in scoring all year.
Junior first-team All-Conference guard
Rob Gutierrez is third in the NE-10 with a team-leading 18.3 points per-game, which is 13.9 points higher than his career average of 4.4 ppg entering this season. He has been in double-figures in all but two of his 28 games.
Fellow junior guard
Shea Bromirsk, a third-team All-League honoree for the second straight season, also averages twin-figures as does sophomore guard
Andre Pope and junior forward
Brian Hanuschak. Bromirski and Pope are averaging 15.8 and 13.0 points respectively, while Hanuschak is producing 11.1 points and a team-leading 8.7 rebounds. Pope and Bromirski have furthermore combined to bury 141, 3-pointers this year.
As for UMass Lowell (20-9), the River Hawks ran off four straight wins before suffering a 71-60 setback to eventual league champion Adelphi in the conference semifinals. They furthermore upended the visiting Golden Knights 92-82 back on January 22 in the only meeting between the two schools this year.
Freshman guard Akeem Williams is averaging 18.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists; while sophomore forward Matt Welch is producing 14.4 points and 5.2 boards on a regular basis.
Overall, UMass Lowell owns a 12-7 lead in the all-time series with Saint Rose that dates back to the 1990-91 campaign. The two clubs have met in the NCAA Tournament on one occasion. The host River Hawks upended the Golden Knights 91-68 in a first round game on March 14, 2003 en route to capturing the regional championship and subsequently advancing the “Elite Eight”.
Along those lines, Saint Rose has made its way to three “Elite Eight” tournaments (1996, 1998, and 1999) and advanced to the 1998 national semifinals where the Golden Knights fell 88-76 to eventual national champion UC Davis at what was then known as the Commonwealth Convention Center in Louisville.
NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT - EAST REGIONAL
at Bentley University; Waltham, MA
Quarterfinals - Saturday, March 12, 2011
#3 Stonehill (21-7) vs. #6 Adelphi (20-10), 12:00 pm
#2 American International (20-8) vs. #7 Bloomfield (21-8), 2:30 pm
#1 Bentley (22-7) vs. #8 C.W. Post (21-9), 6:00 pm
#4 UMass Lowell (20-9) vs. #5 Saint Rose (21-8), 8:30 pm
Semifinals - Sunday, March 13, 2011
#3-#6 winner vs. #2-#7 winner, 6:00 pm
#1-#8 winner vs. #4-#5 winner, 8:30 pm
Championship - Tuesday, March 15, 2011
8:30 pm
Winner advances to “Elite Eight" in Springfield, MA, March 23-26
