Punching the Ticket

Yesterday's Four Tournament Winners:

*St. Peter's College (20-13) got its first NCAA tournament bid in 16 years by knocking off Iona 62-57 to win the MAAC. Iona had won both regular season meetings by scores of 70-52 and 73-59.

*Old Dominion (27-6) held off a furious 2nd half rally from Virginia Commonwealth and won the Colonial Athletic Association Championship by a score of 70-65. ODU also won the tournament last year.

*Wofford (21-12) defeated College of Charleston 77-67 to win a second straight Southern Conference Tournament title and head to the NCAA Tourney for the second straight year. College of Charleston had won both regular season meetings 77-73 and 79-54, but came up short when it mattered. 

*Gonzaga (24-9) beat rival St. Mary's College 75-63 to win the West Coast Conference Tournament and head to the NCAAs for the 13th straight season. Fun fact, Gonzaga alum John Stockton's son David Stockton is a freshman guard for the Zags averaging 4.4 points and 2.1 assists off the bench.

Today's Tournament Winners

*Arkansas-Little Rock (19-16) got a 3-pointer from Solomon Bozeman with 1.5 seconds left to beat North Texas 64-63 to win the Sun Belt Conference Tourney and earn their first NCAA tournament berth in 21 years. Arkansas-Little Rock finished 5th Place in the Sun Belt Western Division during the regular season before winning 4 straight in the conference tournament.

*The Butler Bulldogs (23-9) are dancing once again. After playing for the NCAA Championship Game last year, Butler struggled out of the gates this season. They eventually got hot though winning their final 9 games and won the Horizon League Tournament by beating Wisconsin-Milwaukee 59-44 after losing to them twice during the regular season.

*The Oakland Golden Grizzlies (25-9), after going 17-1 in Summit League play during the regular season, cruised past Oral Roberts 90-76 to earn a berth to the NCAA Tournament and repeat as conference champion.

*While it wasn't a conference tournament game,  Princeton beat Penn 70-58 to set up a one game playoff with Harvard to see who gets the Ivy League's automatic bid.

Tomorrow's Matchups

Northeast Conference - Robert Morris (18-13) vs Long Island (26-5)
Big Sky Conference - Montana (21-9) vs Northern Colorado (20-10)