ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University men's basketball team (23-4, 14-2 Empire 8) is heading back to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time since the 1996-97 season following the program's first Empire 8 Championship title. Senior captain, Dom LeMorta (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) was named the Empire 8 Tournament MVP following 44 points over the course of two games.
 
The AU Saxons earned the program's first Empire 8 title in program history with a 90-78 win over St. John Fisher in the Empire 8 Championship game in the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena on Saturday afternoon. LeMorta led the Saxons with 31 points on 13-of-20 (65.0%) shooting. Fellow senior Sage Brown (Cortland, NY/Cortland) had 11 points and four rebounds while Scotty Stopera(Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) had eight points, 10 assists and four boards.
 
The Cardinals were led by Empire 8 Player of the Year, Ryan Henderson, with 19 points and six rebounds.
 
The Saxons opened the game like they did so many in the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena throughout the 2018-19 season, dropping back-to-back three-pointers to open the game. Four minutes later SJFC knotted the game up at 12 points with 14:09 to go in the half. LeMorta drained a jumper on the next possession, giving AU a lead they would not relinquish the remainder of the game.
 
By the intermission the Saxons maintained a 46-40 lead behind 17-of-28 (60.7%) shooting from the field. LeMorta had 15 points and Henderson had 10 by the break.
 
Once again, the Saxons came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders. LeMorta opened the half with a jumper that was quickly followed by a Cole Eells (Ithaca, NY/Ithaca) three-pointer forcing a SJFC timeout only 41 seconds into the half. Despite the attempt to stop the bleeding, the Cardinals were unable to slow the Saxons who went on a 15-4 run, jumping out a 61-44 lead.
 
SJFC managed to reduce the lead to only seven points with 4:18 to go in the game, 83-76, but AU kicked its offense into gear going on a 7-0 run over three minutes to seal the game and the program's first NCAA berth in 22 years.
 
Over the course of the game the Saxons shot 32-of-56 (57.1%) from the field and 7-of-16 (43.8%) from behind the arc.
 
"It's a surreal feeling right now. I'm just so proud of the guys, especially the seniors, having been able to recruit them and get to know them over the last five years and seeing how much work they've put in to get to this point, they deserve every bit of it," Head Coach Russ Phillips said. "The fans were outstanding! The community support from administration here has been very humbling. The amount of emails and texts that you get from alums just saying that they're proud of the team and I'm just really happy for them. We look forward to watching the selection show and see where we're going next weekend."

The Saxons will wait until Monday, Feburary 25 at 1:00 p.m. (EST) to hear where they will play the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament. A live stream of the selection show can be found at NCAA.com. The first round will take place on Friday, March 1. AU is currently on a 13-game win streak - the program's longest win-streak since the 1988-89 season where AU finished 19-8 overall and advanced to the NCAA tournament.