Men's Basketball Takes on Adelphi This Saturday, 12 p.m., in NCAA First Round Action
BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (March 8, 2012) – Earning the automatic bid with the ECC Championship victory, the C.W. Post men's basketball team enters as a six seed in the NCAA Tournament to face the number three seed Adelphi this Saturday, March 10, at 12 p.m. at Assumption.
This past Sunday, the Pioneers earned a second straight ECC Championship and fourth out of five years with an 86-67 victory over Bridgeport at Queens. The win moved C.W. Post to 23-5 on the season, with a 15-1 conference mark. In the contest, the group used 22 free throws made while only allowing five to the Purple Knights and also had four players score in double-digits.
Stefan Bonneau (Middletown, N.Y.) led all scorers with 29 points to go with five assists while
Tobin Carberry (Hamden, Conn.) contributed 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Scoring 84.1 points per game as an offense, the Pioneers have managed to outscore opponents by 10.8 points per game through the first 28 games. This offensive power has been benefited by a completion of 18.7 free throws per game. The interior has also stayed strong, as the team has outrebounded opponents by 7.4 boards a game.
Recently named both the ECC Player of the Year and Daktronics East Region Player of the year, Bonneau has his scoring average up to 22.3 points a game behind 79 total three-pointers made while also dishing out 3.4 assists a game. Carberry, doing most of his damage from the wing, is second on the team with 18.1 points per game and is pulling in 5.9 rebounds a contest. The frontcourt of
Vaughn Allen (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) and
Tyuan Williams (Newark, N.J.) has played a huge role for C.W. Post. The duo has combined for 23.4 points a game and 17.3 boards, with Williams recently named ECC Rookie of the Year.
The Panthers from Adelphi earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament after a 20-8 overall record, including 16-6 in the Northeast-10, and an appearance in the conference semifinal round. The Panthers last game came in that round of four against Stonehill on Wednesday, Feb. 29. Adelphi was edged out by a final score of 73-60 with Stonehill knocking down 12 shots from beyond the arc and the Panthers only shooting 33.3 percent. Cliff Brown led the Adelphi effort with 15 points.
The margin between the Panthers' offense and defense is not wide, as the offense is scoring 63.4 points a game and are allowing 60.1 a game on the defensive end. Adelphi has been helped by 12.6 assists a game and have forced 2.3 turnovers more per game then have been given up. This turnover margin has been assisted by 7.6 steals a game for the Panther defense.
Robert Johnson enters Saturday's game as the leading scorer for Adelphi, putting up 12.9 points a game. The combination of Bradley Simpson and Chris Ranglin has provided 20.7 points and 10.9 rebounds a game for the Panthers. Richard Harkins pushes the offense with his 4.2 helpers a game.
Being conference-rivals for several years before Adelphi moved to the Northeast-10, the Pioneers and Panthers have a storied history that has led to Adelphi leading the all-time series by a 43-38 margin. These two teams did meet early this year during a non-conference game, as Adelphi came out with an 83-79 victory on Dec. 13. The Panthers shot the ball at a 53.6 percentage, compared to only 34.3 percent shot by the Pioneers. Bonneau came off the bench to score 29 points in the game, with Johnson leading the Panthers with 21 points and six rebounds.
The winner of this game will move onto second round action on Sunday, March 11, to face the winner of the number two seed, Stonehill, and number seven seed, District of Columbia, for a 5 p.m. tip-off.
The game will be called on play-by-play through www.wcwpsports.com, as well as a live video from www.northeast10.tv by clicking on www.packnetwork.com/ncaadiieastm and then can be followed on Twitter on the Pioneer's page, @cwpostpioneers.
Click here for the Men's Tournament Page