Indianapolis, Ind. – After winning their
second straight East Coast Conference Men's Basketball
Championship, the University of Bridgeport Purple Knights will head
to the NCAA Tournament for the 20th time in program history.
Bridgeport earned the East Coast Conference's automatic berth into
the field by capturing their second straight ECC title and third in
the past five years with a 94-73 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas.
This marks the eight appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the 14
year tenure of Head Coach, Mike Ruane.
After making a run to the Sweet 16 as a No. 7 seed a year ago, the
Purple Knights once again received a low seed in the East Regional,
this time coming in as the No. 8 seed . Bridgeport will take on No.
1 seeded Southern Connecticut State, the tournament host. The Owls
are currently ranked No. 6 in the nation in the latest NABC Top 25
Poll and were the regular and post-season champions of the
Northeast-10. They also enter NCAA action on a program-record 16
game winning streak.
The two schools are familiar foes, having met twice already earlier
this season. Southern Connecticut State pulled out close victories
in both contests, winning at Bridgeport, 77-73 on November 10 and
on their home court, 97-90, on December 16.
In other tournament action, No. 2 seeded New Haven will battled No.
7 Bloomfield, No. 3 St. Anselm will take on No. 6 LeMoyne,
and defending East Region Champion, Franklin Pierce, will face off
against No. 5 seeded and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference
Champion, Philadelphia University to wrap up the eight team
field.
The tournament gets under way on Saturday, March 15 at Moore Field
House on Southern Connecticut State's campus in New Haven. The
semifinals take place the following day, Sunday, March 16, and
after a day off, the championship game will be on Tuesday, March
18. All tip-off times will be released at a later date.
To view the full 64 team bracket, click here.
2014 NCAA
Division II Men's Basketball East Regional
Quarterfinals - Saturday, March 15
No. 1 Southern Connecticut State (27-2) vs. No. 8
Bridgeport (18-10)
No. 2 New Haven (21-8) vs. No. 7 Bloomfield (20-8)
No. 3 St. Anselm (20-7) vs. No. 6 LeMoyne (17-11)
No. 4 Franklin Pierce (20-7) vs. No. 5 Philadelphia (25-6)
Semifinals – Sunday, March 16
No. 3-No. 6 winner vs. No. 2-No. 7 winner
No. 1-No. 8 winner vs. No. 4-No. 5 winner
Championship – Tuesday, March
18
