Wyatt Smith finished with 12 points in the CAC final, going 6-for-7 from the foul line. Salisbury athletics photo

There was nothing but drama, excitement and celebration in Salisbury over the weekend. Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams hosted Capital Athletic Conference tournament finals. Both teams won in thrilling fashion. It’s been more than a decade since either team made the NCAA Tournament, and now both are dancing.

First up were the women, facing a 20-win Mary Washington squad who would not go away. Down three with 16 seconds remaining, senior Melanie Mocniak was fouled on a 3-point attempt. She knocked down all three shots then proceeded to block Mary Washington’s winning attempt to send the game into overtime.

Then, with less than 30 seconds in overtime, Mocniak went to the line for three free throws, down three, and again hit them all. A basket more for each squad sent the game into a second overtime period, where the Gulls pushed ahead for a six-point win.

Following that excitement, the men hosted Christopher Newport for their chance at an automatic bid. This game, too, came down to the wire. Trailing by one with 12 seconds to play, Wyatt Smith grabbed a huge defensive rebound then hustled down the floor to accept an entry pass and get off a shot at the buzzer. It missed, but a foul was called with 0.7 seconds showing on the board. He stepped to the line and knocked down both. After a deflected inbounds pass, it was time to cut down the nets.

“The buzz generated with the women certainly didn’t hurt us,” said men’s coach and alum, Josh Merkel about the atmosphere in the arena, “I wish every game could be like that.”

His team is looking at a long drive to Trinity in Connecticut to face a strong Eastern Connecticut team in the first round. “I haven’t seen video yet, but I know we played then two years ago and they kicked our tail. Their coach, Bill Geitner, has my utmost respect. His team has been very good for a very long time.”

The Salisbury men are very young, with just one senior in the main rotation. “We have two guys who started last year as freshmen. Investing minutes in those guys has really paid off,” says Merkel. The youth showed in a 2-4 start to the season, but the team rounded into form when it counted. “We try to schedule as tough a non-conference schedule as we can and it’s really helped our guys a lot. There’s no one they’re afraid to play.”

The women’s team is a different story. Full of senior leaders like Mocniak, Anna Hackett, and Sarah Seipp, this team went 25-2 and fully earned a chance to host the first two rounds this weekend. “We’re really happy with the bracket,” said women’s coach Kelly Lewandowski, “We are a name that’s been thrown in [to the national conversation] more recently and it shows a lot of respect for what we’ve done. It’s also a testament to the strength of our conference.”

Although Salisbury was relatively assured of making the NCAA Tournament either way, the relief after a long battle with Mary Washington is clearly evident in the postgame celebration. Salisbury athletics photo

A relative unknown, Bridgewater State, from the Northeast is the Gull opponent for the first round. A win there secures a date with either Stockton or McDaniel on Saturday. “Everyone was excited on Saturday, of course,” said Lewandowski, “But they are all their normal selves today.” This team expects to be where they are and are focused on the future. In a feature earlier this year, I highlighted the friendship between Lewandowski and Cabrini women’s coach, Kate Pearson, whose team faced Stockton this season. I asked Lewandowski less than an hour after the brackets were announced if she’d made a phone call; her quick reply, “I’ve already got the video.”

The celebratory atmosphere will continue at Salisbury throughout the week and hopefully much longer. As exciting as it is to continue on into the NCAA Tournament, a reflective coach Merkel found something else important as well, “We’re really glad to get a chance to spend another week together. We’ve emphasized a family atmosphere here and we want it to continue as long as we can.”

A bubble bursts in Brooklyn

Brooklyn men’s coach, Rich Micallef knew the chances of his Bulldogs making the NCAA Tournament as an at-large selection were slim, “I figured ten percent at best. Perhaps if we’d had more of a shot we would have watched together, but I knew we were an outlier.”

This team, loaded with seniors, likely sat on the board for a while after William Paterson secured its spot in the 62, but ultimately came up short. “I watched Wesleyan beat Amherst (in Sunday’s NESCAC final) and thought, that could be our spot,” said Micallef.

Missing out on the tournament can lead to a lot of reflection – an overtime loss to Paterson in the very first game of the year or the double OT loss to Baruch in the CUNYAC championship game. “We were one second away, but our guys left it all on the court.”

This is a tough way to end Micallef’s first year back at his alma mater, but the team is ready to press on. “We’ve been pretty deep and we have a lot of guys returning. We ‘re going to work hard, and hope recruiting goes well so we can win it next year so we don’t have to worry.”

But this season is quite over yet for Brooklyn. They’ll participate in the ECAC tournament, hopefully hosting some more games for players and fans. “The toughest thing will be getting our heads back in order. The final was so emotionally draining. But we accomplished a lot this year. It was a great first season.”

Sage surges into the tourney

The Skyline Conference hasn’t been known as a major force in D-III, but recently its representatives in the NCAA Tournament have made waves. Sage is ready to continue that tradition. Heading to St. John Fisher where it will play Amherst and, potentially, the winner of the hosts and WPI, it would be easy for a six-year-old program to feel overwhelmed surrounded by perennial powers.

Coach Brian Barnes has a different perspective, “Anybody you play in March is going to be a strong program, but we’re focused on us. We’ve been playing pretty good basketball, didn’t lose a game in February. We’re battle-tested and ready to go.”

A first-round matchup with Amherst is less than a warm welcome for a team entering its first NCAA Tournament, but the matchup will be a tough one for both teams. Sage boasts seniors Kai Deans and Melvin Ford, each averaging eight rebounds per game. Deans leads the team in scoring at almost 18 points per game. The size and experience should be a challenge for Amherst young bigs. “Amherst has so much tradition,” says Barnes, “We’re only six years young; we’re here to try and make a name for ourselves.”

Atlantic Region in the tournament

On the men’s side, Stockton and Paterson both get the opportunity to host, facing Endicott and SUNY-Cobleskill respectively in the first round. With wins, Stockton will get the winner of Bates and St. Vincent, while Paterson will get the survivor of Virginia Wesleyan and John Carroll. Neumann and Misericordia head out to Ohio for games against Mount Union and Wooster; Baruch gets Scranton at Babson, and Sage faces Amherst at St. John Fisher.

For the women, defending champs FDU-Florham and NJAC champ Montclair State get to host. Montclair gets Regis (Mass.) in the first round and tough potential second round matchup against the Stevenson-Williams winner. The champs get Johnson and Wales in the first round, followed by the winner of the University of New England and Catholic. Stockton plays McDaniel in Salisbury and Eastern plays Amherst at NYU. Baruch gets Stevens at Scranton, Cabrini travels to Geneseo, New York to play Muhlenberg, and Mount St. Vincent plays Ithaca in Maine.

Mid-Atlantic tourney roundup

The Mid-Atlantic women have two hosts in Salisbury and Scranton. The Royals play Eastern Connecticut in the first round, then, potentially, the winner of Baruch and Stevens. The Gulls play Massachusetts’ Bridgewater State and host Stockton and fellow in-region team, McDaniel. Stevenson plays Williams at Montclair and Catholic plays the University of New England at FDU-Florham. The men have two hosts, Dickinson and Johns Hopkins. JHU plays Keene State with Skidmore and Wesleyan waiting, while the Red Devils play Regis and possible the winner of Albertus Magnus and Springfield. The Catholic men host Alvernia for the right to play Randolph-Macon and Salisbury heads to Trinity to play Eastern Connecticut. Scranton faces Baruch at Babson.

Stay in touch

If you have any feedback or story ideas throughout the playoffs or in the offseason, please pass them along to ryan.scott@d3sports.com or @ryanalanscott on Twitter. This weekend, I’m planning to take in the Friday games at Stockton, so stop by and say hello.