| St. Lawrence couldn't get past Union in the Liberty League tournament semifinal on Wednesday night. Photo by Tara Freeman, St. Lawrence athletics |
The top seeds in the Liberty League men's tournament were upset as Union outlasted St. Lawrence in double-overtime and Hobart ousted Skidmore.
- Conference tournament trackers: Men | Women
- Wednesday scoreboard: Men | Women
- Wednesday news releases: Men | Women
- Third regional rankings: Men | Women
Union defeated St. Lawrence 110-108 on a DeShon Burgess three-pointer with one second remaining in the second overtime. Riley Naclerio's jumper put St. Lawrence in front 108-107 with two and half minutes to play in double-overtime. The teams exchanged empty possessions in the final minutes until Burgess hit the game-winning shot, giving him 34 points and the Dutchmen their first conference tournament win in over a decade. Naclerio also tallied 34 points along with 15 rebounds in 47 minutes.
After losing two close games to Skidmore during the regular season, Hobart broke through in the Liberty League semifinals with a 70-65 win over the Thoroughbreads. Colin Dougherty scored 26 points for the Statesmen on nearly perfect shooting from the three-point line (4-for-5) and foul line (8-for-9). Hobart will play Union in the tournament title game on Saturday.
Moravian pushed No. 17 Susquehanna into the at-large pool by beating the River Hawks 81-69 in the Landmark Conference tournament semifinal. Trailing by one at the half, the Greyhounds broke free for 50 points in the second half. Brandon McGuire paced the Greyhounds with 27 points and 12 rebounds. Moravian advanced to face Scranton, which pulled away from Catholic 75-68 in the other semifinal. Despite dropping two of its last three, Susquehanna should be in good shape to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
The wait will be more tense for Cabrini after the Cavaliers were beaten by Gwynedd Mercy in the CSAC semifinal. Arron Goodman, who started his college basketball career at Cabrini, drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Griffens over Cabrini 73-71. Deryl Bagwell gave Cabrini a 71-70 lead with 19 seconds remaining and then blocked the Griffins shot on the ensuing Gwynedd possession. The ball rolled out of bounds with 1.5 seconds left and Gwynedd got the ball inbounds to Goodman for the winning shot. Watch the final shot here
Staten Island kept rolling past CUNYAC opponents as the Dolphins topped Baruch 71-54 in that conference tournament semifinal. Frank Schettino tallied 13 assists for Staten Island which snapped a three-game losing streak in the CUNYAC tournament. The Dolphins will face CCNY on the Beavers' home court for the title on Friday night. CCNY edged Lehman 73-71 in the other semifinal and traditionally hosts the CUNYAC final, even though the Beavers are the lower seed.
Scroll down for women's recap
| Taylor Paulsrud drives to the rim for the game-winning shot in UW-River Falls' 47-43 victory over UW-Stevens Point in the first round of the WIAC tournament. Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com |
On the women's side, two sixth seeds kept their Cinderella hopes alive with wins on Wednesday night.
Rutgers-Newark rallied past Kean 77-71 in the NJAC tournament semifinal. The Scarlet Knights trailed for much of the game before closing with a 10-2 run to grab the victory. Maria Simmons notched 25 points, 11 rebounds and seven rebounds for Rutgers-Newark while Marajiah Bacon scored 21 points on 8-for-23 shooting for Kean. The Scarlet Knights (12-15) will try to become the first team to reach the NCAA tournament with a losing record since St. Scholastica made it with a 13-14 record in 2013. No. 15 Montclair State stands in the way after dispatching Rowan 76-67 in the NJAC's other semifinal.
After losing its best player to season-ending injury months ago and going 3-11 in the WIAC regular season, UW-River Falls did not figure to be a factor in the conference tournament. Go figure -- the Falcons upset Stevens Point 47-43 on Wednesday night. Kate Theisen's free throws gave River Falls a three-point lead over the Pointers with 18 seconds left. Lauren Anklam answered on Stevens Point's next possession with a three to tie the game at 43 . The Falcons responded by giving the ball to Taylor Paulsrud who drove along the baseline to the rim for the game-winning layup.
The Middle Atlantic region produced two thrillers in conference tournament semifinals. DeSales battled past Misericordia 84-81 in double overtime as Leandra Sterner and Morgan Birmelin combined for 53 points. The Bulldogs, who shot 18-for-20 from the foul line, will play FDU-Florham for the MAC Freedom title on Saturday. No. 23 Catholic edged Elizabethtown 60-56 in overtime, despite a triple-double for E'town's Emily Martin. She finished with 23 points, 11 blocks and 10 rebounds for the Blue Jays.
It looked like Cabrini's string of CSAC women's basketball titles would stop at four as the Cavaliers were seeded fifth in this year's tournament. But the Cavaliers went on the road and upset top-seed Marywood 67-63. Cabrini will meet third-seed Gwynedd Mercy which ousted second-seed Neumann, 88-69, in the CSAC title game.