ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team will officially begin NCAA Tournament play this Friday, March 7 at 3 p.m. as the Bombers battle Stockton University inside the Harrington Auditorium on the campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass. The winner of this contest will play on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. against the winner of No. 19 WPI and Husson for a trip to the Round of 16.

SCHEDULE:
Round 1 (Friday, March 7)
Stockton (19-8) vs. Ithaca (18-9) – 3 p.m. | LIVE STATS | VIDEO | AUDIO (WICB)
No. 19 WPI (24-3) vs. Husson (21-7) – 5:30 p.m. | LIVE STATS | VIDEO

Round 2 (Saturday, March 8)
Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2 – 5:30 p.m. | LIVE STATS | VIDEO

NCAA BRACKET | DIRECTIONS

TICKETS:
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ITHACA VS. REGIONAL POD:  The Bombers have never played any of the teams in this pod.

ITHACA VS. THE 2025 NCAA PLAYOFF FIELD:  IC played three teams who were selected to this year's tournament and went 2-1 in those contests. The Bombers defeated Cortland (64-58) and Utica (82-78) and narrowly lost to Hamilton (73-70).

ITHACA IN THE NCAA PLAYOFFS: The Bombers are making their 14th appearance in the NCAA Division III Championship and first since 2019-20. Ithaca is 6-17 all-time in the NCAA Tournament dating back to 1963-64. IC's first tournament win came back in 1972 against Buffalo State, 70-58, and the Bombers prevailed again in 1982 against Buffalo, 74-73. The next victory came in 1993 by a 71-56 score against Fredonia. In 2012-13, Ithaca defeated Springfield, 89-77, and Rochester, 70-68, to advance to the Round of 16. Most recently, IC beat Babson, 94-88 in overtime, before losing to No. 1 Swarthmore, 86-78, in the second round during the 2019-20 tournament.

THE 2025 CHAMPIONSHIP: The Division III Championship provides for a 64-team, single elimination playoff field. The 64 teams include 43 winners of conferences whose champions have been awarded automatic bids and 21 teams who received at-large bids. A total of 16 schools are hosting regionals this weekend. The Round of 16 and Round of 8 games will be played on Friday and Saturday, March 14-15. Winners of that round will advance to the semifinals and national championship on March 20 and 22 in Fort Wayne, Ind.

BREAKING DOWN THE POD (BY SEED):

No. 19 WPI Engineers (24-3)
At-Large Bid – New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference
From WPI's athletic website.

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WPI (24-3), the 2024-25 NEWMAC Men's Basketball Regular Season Champions, ranked No. 15 in the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball NPI Rankings and No. 19 this week in the D3hoops.com Top 25, earned an at-large bid after falling short in the conference championship to Clark, 80-65. 
 
The last time the Crimson and Gray made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament was in 2021-22 when the Engineers advance to the Sectional Final round for the first time since 1985 and capped off their season at 27-3. It will mark WPI's 13th NCAA Tournament appearance in the last 21 seasons. The Crimson and Gray will be participating in their 15th NCAA Tournament in program history, with other appearances occurring in 1982 and 1985. Overall, WPI sits at 10-15 all-time in NCAA Tournament play with a 3-1 run in its last postseason berth in 2022.

WPI leads Division III in 3-point field goal defense (25.4%), ranks fourth in field goal defense (37.4%) and is ninth in scoring defense (61.5). The Engineers feature four players who score over 10.3 points per game, led by Aidan Callahan at 15.5 per outing. Tim Reidy is second on the squad at 13.7, while Brett Marelli and J.R. Newman both add 10.7 a game.

Justin Molen chips in 7.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, while Nicholas Margetson adds 7.3 points and 3.9 boards.


Stockton University Ospreys (19-8)
Automatic Bid – New Jersey Athletic Conference
From Stockton's athletic website.

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Stockton received its 20th NCAA Tournament berth in men's basketball (2025, 24, 23, 22, 16, 15, 14, 10, 09, 08, 99, 97, 96, 94, 93, 92, 90, 89, 88, 87) after finishing in a tie for second in the NJAC standings and reaching the semifinals of the NJAC Tournament. The Ospreys collected a spot in the NCAA field for the 10th time in the last 17 seasons.
 
Stockton sits fourth in the nation in made free throws per game (19.1), eighth in free throw attempts per game (25.9), ninth in rebounds per game (44.26) and 10th in offensive rebounds per game (15.30). The Ospreys feature a pair of all-conference players in NJAC First Team selection EJ Matthews-Spratley and NJAC Honorable Mention player Eriq Campbell.

Matthews-Spratley averages 23.3 points per game, to go along with 5.7 rebounds. Campbell adds 14.0 points and 5.3 rebounds a game. Another player to watch is Tayvon Gaither, who averages 10.8 points and 5.0 rebounds per contest.

Stockton boasts the highest scoring offense in the pod at 85.1 points per game, but the Ospreys also allow the most points at 79.1 points per contest. Stockton also leads the pod in free throw percentage, rebounds, free throws made and rebounds per game.

Ithaca College Bombers (18-9)
Automatic Bid – Liberty League

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Ithaca brings a six-game winning streak into the tournament and the Bombers have stepped up on the defensive end of the floor as of late. Over the past nine contests, IC has held its opponents to under 70 points in eight of those matchups.

IC leads this pod in opponent rebounds per game and total rebounds (35.8/967) and opponent free throws made (288), while the Bombers are second in free throws made (426), 3-pointers made (241), steals (236) and opponent points per game (68.1).

The Bombers will look to a balance starting five started 24-of-27 games together this season. IC will be led by Logan Wendell, who was the Liberty League Tournament Most Outstanding Performer and First Team All-Liberty League selection, as he averages 17.9 points per game and is 16 shy of 500 this season. Wendell also recently moved into fifth all-time on the IC scoring list.

Evan Cabral, a Second Team All-Liberty League honoree, ranks second on the team in scoring (13.), rebounding (6.4) and assists (71). Cabral leads the squad in 3-point shooting (38.8%) and steals (58). Chris Leysath was named the Liberty League Rookie of the Year after a first year in which he averaged 7.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. The Bombers will also look to Aidan Holmes (9.5 PPG and 4.6 RPG) and Jaylon O'Neal (9.9 PPG and 4.1 RPG) for added production. Off the bench, Ithaca will turn to Cole Wissink, Alex Penders, Jose Padilla and Laurence Brady, while Yoav Regev and Thomas McKiernan could also see some action.

Husson University Eagles (21-7)
Automatic Bid – North Atlantic Conference
From Husson's athletic website.

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Husson captured its 10th North Atlantic Conference Championship since 2009, including its third in four years and second-consecutive with a 90-59 victory over Vermont State University Johnson this past Saturday. Husson and WPI will meet for the seventh time as WPI owns a perfect 6-0 mark since the first matchup in March of 2009, which also took place in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Husson is paced by veteran leadership in the form of graduate students Jeremy Moronta and Scott Lewis and senior Riles Neff.

Neff leads the team in minutes per game (33.4), field goals made (158), field goal percentage (49.5%), three-point field goals made (58), three-point field goal percentage (43.3%), free throws made (81), free throw percentage (80.2%), points (455) and points per game (17.5). Neff has recorded 11 20-point performances during his final year in the green and gold, including a season-high of 30 against VTSU Johnson back in early January.

Moronta is second on the team in most categories, but holds the team lead in minutes played (895), offensive rebounds (77), defensive rebounds (151), total rebounds (228), rebounds per game (8.1), assists (98) and steals (56). The Brooklyn, New York native has posted seven 20-point games and seven double-doubles so far this season.

Lewis ranks second in the conference in blocks (43) and blocks per game (1.72) and is averaging 11 points per game for the Eagles. Lewis is four blocks shy of 200 for his career and currently ranks second all-time in the history of Husson men's basketball.