HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 21, 2019)  – Following a 16-9 regular season and a 9-7 mark in the conference , the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team begins its quest for the program's first Empire 8 Conference championship Friday evening in upstate New York with a matchup with the top-seeded Alfred University Saxons.

Stevens joins Alfred, St. John Fisher College and Nazareth in the four-team field with the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line. Alfred will serve as the site host after clinching the league's regular-season title on the final day of competition. Naz and St. John Fisher match up in the other semifinal with the winners taking to the court Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

Live Stats | Video | Tournament Central | Terry S. Galanis Family Arena | Empire 8 Championship Page

Historically Speaking
Stevens will be taking to the Galanis Family Arena floor for its 10th all-time, and fourth consecutive, appearance in the Empire 8 tournament. The Ducks are 2-9 all-time in the conference championship and will be playing as the fourth seed for the third time. Stevens has met Utica in each of the last two tournaments, with each team winning one game. The Ducks have reached the conference championship twice, falling to Ithaca in 2013 and St. John Fisher in 2017.

Alfred advanced to the conference tournament for the fourth time. It's the first that the Saxons will serve as the top seed after going 14-2 in league games and 21-4 overall. Alfred bested Nazareth 94-83 on Feb. 19 to clinch the league's regular-season title. The Saxons are 1-3 all-time in the tournament, defeating Hartwick in 2015 to reach the program's only conference championship game.

The teams have never met in the postseason. 

When We Last Met
Stevens and Alfred met on Jan. 19 and Feb. 8, with each game going to overtime. 

In January's contest at Canavan Arena, senior Kevin Florio knotted the game at 65 with a free throw and each team took a chance to win the game in regulation, before needing an extra period to decide the outcome. In the extra session, the Saxons hit four free throws in the final 21 seconds to secure a 78-75 victory. Junior Michael Zignorski led four Ducks in double figures and sophomore Alec DiPietrantonio posted a double-double in the setback. Dom LeMorta recorded a game-high 23 points to lead the Saxons, with 12 coming from behind the arc in the second half.

In upstate New York, senior Frank Amari made a free throw to force overtime, but in the extra session, Alfred went 4-for-4 from the field and 6-of-9 from the line to earn a 78-64 victory. Senior Ryan Coffey led the Ducks with 16 points and seven rebounds, while LeMorta again led all players with 24 points, including five in the extra period.

The teams have split the last six meetings.

Awards Season
The Empire 8 released its season-end awards Thursday, with DiPietrantonio collecting Second Team All-E8 accolades and Coffey receiving an honorable mention.

DiPietrantonio averaged a double-double (13 points and 10 rebounds per game) over the course of the 2018-19 regular season, leading the Empire 8 in rebounding and blocked shots (1.6), while ranking among the conference leaders by shooting 54.4 percent from the floor. The Mount Laurel, New Jersey native had the second-highest single-game offensive output among conference players, scoring a career-high 36 points in Stevens' victory over Elmira on Jan. 4. In the same game, the sophomore center grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds, which is tied for the highest single-game total in the conference this season. Both marks are the highest in any single E8 game this season. DiPietrantonio's season totals rank among the nation's leaders in rebounds (42nd), blocks (62nd), double-doubles (61st), total rebounds (38th), total blocks (58) and both offensive (41st) and defensive rebounds (82nd) per game. His 250 rebounds to date ranks fourth on the program's all-time single-season list and his 41 blocks ranks ninth.

Coffey earned an honorable mention after finished 18th in the conference in scoring (11.9) and fourth in rebounding (7.2), while averaging the seventh-most minutes per game (30.1) in the Empire 8. The senior forward averaged 11.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game and closed out his season with five straight double-digit scoring performances. For the season, Coffey shot 45.7 percent from the floor and 42.6 percent from behind the arc; 40 of Coffey's 106 made field goals came on threes. Coffey has appeared in 104 consecutive games, which ranks fourth all-time.

After winning 11 straight games to close out the regular season and win its first E8 regular-season title, Alfred won three of the league's four highest honors, with Sage Brown earning Defensive Player of the Year honors, Elliott Bowen taking home Rookie of the Year accolades and Russell Phillips and staff receiving Staff of the Year recognition. LeMorta was Alfred's lone First Team selection, with Brown joining DiPietrantonio on the Second Team. Scotty Stopera also received an honorable mention.

The Scout
Alfred finished second in the conference in scoring, averaging 84.1 points per game; the team ranked third in scoring defense, allowing just 72.7 points to opponents. Conversely, Stevens ranked seventh in scoring with a 75.1 points per game average, but led the conference in scoring defense, allowing 70.4 points per game to opponents. Alfred's 11.4 margin led the conference by nearly three points. Stevens finished fourth with a 4.8 margin. The Saxons posted three the league's top-10 highest scoring games of the season, cross the 100-point plateau twice against St. John Fisher (2/5 and 2/16) and against Sage (2.9). Stevens' top offensive output was a 97-point performance against Hartwick on Jan. 8.

The Saxons ranked second in both field goal percentage (0.471) and field goal defense (0.423), while Stevens finished fourth (0.438) in field goal percentage, but held teams to just 40.3 percent from the floor to lead the conference. Ironically enough, Stevens fired the second-fewest three-point attempts with 526, while the Saxons took 633. 

Where Stevens holds an advantage over Alfred is on the glass, outrebounding the Saxons, 38.9-35.8. 

Individually, LeMorta finished second in the conference in scoring, averaging 19 points per game, although his 494 points were 65 more than any other conference player. DiPietrantonio's 13 points led Stevens. 

On the boards, DiPietrantonio topped the conference by 1.7 rebounds per game and the sophomore center pulled down 43 more rebounds than any other play. Brown led Alfred with 6.9.

Stopera led the conference in in assist-to-turnover ratio, averaging 5.4 assists to just 1.6 turnovers. He finished second in the conference in assists per game. Amari led Stevens with 2.7 assists per game, which ranked ninth.

The teams did not share a common non-conference opponent.

Looking Ahead
Nazareth and St. John Fisher meet on the other side of the bracket. The Ducks split with the Golden Flyers and were swept by the Cardinals. Nazareth was sitting atop the conference at 10-0 before the Ducks topped the Golden Flyers, 78-54, at Canavan Arena on Feb. 2. After winning their first 10 conference games, the Golden Flyers went 2-4 down the stretch. 

St. John Fisher defeated Houghton in the final game of the regular season to close out the season 17-8 on the year and 12-4 in the conference. The Cardinals split with the Golden Flyers with each team winning on the other team's home floor. Nazareth has a 2-1 edge over St. John Fisher in the postseason.

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