Indianapolis, Ind. - The NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Committee announced today the field of 64 teams for the 2017 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship.
Farmingdale State (20-7) will travel to and play #6 Middlebury (24-3) in the NCAA First Round on Friday, March 3rd at 7:30 p.m. in Middlebury, Vt. The other first round game at the site will feature #15 Lycoming (23-4) versus Cabrini (19-7) at 5:30 p.m. The winners will square off on Saturday, March 4th at 7:00 p.m.
The Rams punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament by defeating Sage, 77-75, in the Skyline Finals and earning the conference's automatic bid. Farmingdale State's balanced offense has five players averaging double-digit scoring led by First Team All-Conference selection George Riefenstahl (Bayport, N.Y.). Riefenstahl is averaging just under a double-double with 12.4 points and 9.5 rebounds a game, while Ali Mableton (Brentwood, N.Y.), who was named Second Team All-Skyline, is scoring 12.1 points per game. FSC's last appearance in the NCAA's was in 2012 where they fell in the second round to MIT.
#6 Middlebury earned a berth into the NCAA Tournament with an 84-62 victory over Williams in the New England Small College Athletic Conference Championship. The Panthers, who are riding an 11-game winning streak, enter the tournament with a 24-3 record. Senior guard Matt St. Amour (Swanton, Vt.) is averaging a team-high 22.0 points per game this season for Middlebury.
#15 Lycoming joined the field of 64 after winning the MAC Commonwealth Tournament. The Warriors defeated Albright, 76-62, in the championship game. Lycoming has three double-digit scorers led by senior guard David Johnson's (Philadelphia, Pa.) team-high 14.5 points per game.
Cabrini, who fell in the Colonial State Athletic Conference Championship game to Gwynedd Mercy, earned one of the at-large bids into the field of 64. The Cavaliers are led by junior forward Tyheim Monroe (Philadelphia, Pa.) who is averaging a double-double with 22.1 points and 15.7 rebounds per game.
Forty-three conferences have been granted automatic qualification for the 2017 championship, while 21 other at-large teams from the remaining independent teams and automatic-qualifying conferences who did not receive their conference automatic qualification (Pool C) were selected by using specific selection criteria approved by the Division III Championships Committee.
Sixteen sites will host four teams for first and second-round competition Friday-Saturday, March 3-4. Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectional-round sites March 10-11. Winners of the four sectional games will advance to the semi-finals and finals March 17 and 18. All games, except the semi-finals and finals, will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. The semi-finals and finals will be conducted at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Va.
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