The Bantams won the right to raise a banner in their NESCAC title clinching win over Wesleyan on Sunday afternoon. Photo by Pete Meshanic, d3photography.com

No. 6 Trinity beat No. 1 Wesleyan for the NESCAC title and handed a loss to the last unbeaten team in Division III men’s basketball. On the women’s side, Bowdoin will enter the Tournament unblemished and Gettysburg won its fourth straight title.

• Sunday scoreboard: Men | Women
• Who made the NCAA Tournament: Men | Women
• Men: WNEU, Grinnell break long Tourney droughts
• Women: Saturday Knights alright for dancing

The Connecticut rivals battled through a game with 10 ties and 17 lead changes, the last coming when Trinity guard Drew Lazarre nailed a three pointer that gave the Bantams a 70-67 lead with 37 seconds left. Wesleyan missed a layup on its ensuing possession, Lazarre grabbed the rebound and got fouled. He sank both free throws to extend Trinity's lead to five, and the Bantams added three more free throws to complete the scoring.

Lazarre racked up 15 points, six rebounds, four assists and two rebounds for Trinity (24-3), which appropriately won its third NESCAC title and second in a row. Shane Regan posted 21 points for Wesleyan (26-1), which will take one of the 21 at-large bids.

St. Norbert defeated No. 17 Wisconsin Lutheran, 70-52, turning the NACC into a two-bid league and busting someone's hopes for one of those at-large bids. The Green Knights held Wisconsin Lutheran to 16 points in the second half and 29 percent shooting in the game (17 for 58), while shooting 51 percent from the field themselves. Jamison Nickolai poured in 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for St. Norbert (22-6).

Logan Wendell and Evan Cabral combined for 47 points and led Ithaca past RPI, 72-67, in the Liberty League championship game. The Bombers shot an efficient 10-for-16 from three and led wire-to-wire, with its starting lineup scoring all 72 points.

The NCAA Tournament will start on Friday afternoon because Zevi Samet drained a three with 16 seconds left and lifted Yeshiva over Farmingdale State in the Skyline championship, 71-68. Hamdel Mohammed's layup staked Farmingdale State to a 77-69 lead with 4:46 to play, but the Maccabees held the Rams to one free throw the rest of the way. That gave Yeshiva a chance to come all the way back and claim a 79-78 lead on Samet's three. The Rams missed a shot on their next possession and Or Sundyvsky added two more free throws for Yeshiva.

The Maccabees claim the Skyline's automatic bid and will play on Friday afternoon since Yeshiva observes Shabbat starting at sundown on Fridays.

Franklin and Marshall claimed its first Centennial Conference championship since 2016 with a 60-47 home victory over Johns Hopkins. The Diplomats broke open a close game with a 14-3 run early in the second half, capped by John Parra's layup that put F&M in front, 41-27. John Seidman scored 14 points for Franklin and Marshall and can reach the 1,000-point milestone with a couple of points in the NCAA Tournament.

Nick Farrar scored 21 points and hit four clutch free throws, as the fifth-seeded Guilford topped No. 19 Roanoke, 79-74, for its fifth ODAC title. Farrar made four three throws in the final 20 seconds and the Quakers went 15 for 16 from the charity stripe. Guilford (22-6) is just the second team to win the ODAC tournament from outside the top four seeds.

Jones preserves Polar Bear perfection

Sydney Jones caught fire in the fourth quarter and led No. 2 Bowdoin past CBB rival Colby in the NESCAC tournament final. File photo by Bowdoin College athletics

The NESCAC entered the day with five teams in position to make the NCAA Tournament, and Colby looked like it would become the sixth when the Mules led No. 2 Bowdoin 51-41 at the start of the fourth quarter.

But All-American Sydney Jones rallied Bowdoin past Colby, 63-59, preserving the Polar Bears perfect season and an at-large bid for someone else.

Jones took over the game early in the fourth quarter with Bowdoin trailing, 53-42. She hit a three keying a personal 9-0 run that pulled the Polar Bears within one at 53-52 with six minutes to play. After Ana Von Rumohr drained a three for Colby, Jones responded with another one of her own. Carly Davey sank two free throws for Bowdoin, and then Jones converted a three-point play that gave the Polar Bears a 60-58 lead with 34 seconds left. The teams traded free throws and Colby missed a game-tying three pointer, sealing Bowdoin's win.

Jones finished with 24 points, 15 in the fourth quarter, for Bowdoin (26-0), which will join New York University (25-0) as the only undefeated teams in the NCAA women’s Tournament. Whitman, which won the NWC tournament on Saturday night, is undefeated against Division III opponents.

No. 12 Gettysburg defeated No. 17 Johns Hopkins, 66-60 in overtime, and became the first Centennial Conference program to win four consecutive women’s basketball titles.

The Bullets trailed by 13 points in the first half and seven entering the fourth quarter before shutting down Johns Hopkins for the final period and a half. Gettysburg held the Blue Jays to nine points in the fourth quarter and scoreless for most of overtime, with the only points coming after the game was in hand. Alayna Arnolie paced Gettysburg (25-2) with 22 points.

After rampaging through the NEWMAC regular season, No. 9 Smith encountered more resistance in the tournament finale before putting MIT away, 79-66.

The Engineers, who were seeded sixth in the conference tournament, hung tough and briefly held a one-point lead in the fourth quarter following a Kaya Weiser three pointer. With the score tied at 59-all, the Pioneers started to pull away. Ella Sylvester scored five points of her game-high 18 points in under a minute and Smith (26-2) closed the game on a 15-2 run.

Kailee Mulkey scored 22 points and Texas Lutheran overpowered Trinity (Texas), 73-63, for the SCAC’s automatic bid. The Bulldogs outrebounded Trinity, 54-34, with Mulkey, Lauren Sansano, and Sarahi Jones each grabbing at least 10 rebounds. Angelina Sotelo added 17 points and four assists for Texas Lutheran (23-4).

Vassar secured the last automatic bid with a 66-53 win at Ithaca in the Liberty League title game. The trio of Sierra McDermed, Tova Gelb, and Julia Harvey did most of the damage for the Brewers, combining for 59 points, 26 rebounds, nine assists, and seven steals. Vassar (21-6) shot 17 for 19 from the free throw line.