HOBOKEN, N.J. (March 6, 2020) – Fresh off the first conference championship in program history, the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team takes to the Canavan Arena floor later today for the program's first home NCAA Tournament game.
The Ducks (23-4) enter the tournament riding a 10-game winning streak and will take on Nichols College (20-8), champions of the Commonwealth Coast Conference. Tip-off for the first meeting between the programs is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
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The Opening Word
It's the third trip to the NCAA Tournament for Stevens, but the first as a conference champion and regional host. Stevens earned the MAC Freedom's automatic bid to the tournament with a 77-59 victory over Eastern on Feb. 29. Senior
Spencer Cook finished one shy of a career high with 32 points in the final and was named the MAC Freedom Tournament's Most Valuable Player after earning the league's Offensive Player of the Year Award.
The Ducks are 2-2 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, defeating WPI and Ramapo, before falling to Amherst in the program's first NCAA appearance 2007. Stevens dropped its opening-round contest to Randolph-Macon in 2013 in the program's only other trip to the national tournament. Both of the team's two prior trips came as an at-large bid recipient.
A first-round victory by the Ducks would set a program record for wins in a single season and match the program record for consecutive victories..
Nichols captured its fourth straight Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship with a thrilling 76-75 victory over hosting Endicott College on Feb. 29. Senior DeAnte Bruton scored 26 of his game-high 38 points in the second half and classmate Kash Jackson intercepted an Endicott pass in the final seconds to finalize the victory. The win was the ninth straight for the Bison, who reached the 20-win mark for the seventh straight season.
Nichols is 4-3 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including a victory over Neumann University in the program's first-ever tournament game in 2017. The Bison won three NCAA games one season ago before falling to eventual national-runner up Swarthmore in the quarterfinals.
Home Cookin' (No Pun Intended)
Entering the season, the Ducks were 102-38 inside the friendly confines of Canavan Arena. Against a formidable slate of games, including both rounds of the MAC Freedom Tournament, Stevens went 12-2 on campus to improve to 114-40 (.740 winning percentage) in Canavan Arena under 12th-year head coach
Bobby Hurley.
Grinding It Out...
Defense continues to be the team's calling card this season. The Ducks finished the season ranked ninth in the country (416 teams ranked) in field-goal percentage defense (38.8%) and 14th in 3-point field-goal percentage defense (29.9%). The Ducks also rank 18th in scoring defense, holding opponents to 64.9 points per game. To date, the Ducks have held four opponents to under 30 percent shooting and 11 teams to under 30 percent from behind the arc. Eight teams, including NCAA-bound The College of New Jersey finished their game against the Ducks with less than 60 points.
Graduate student
Kevin Florio and senior
Dylan Walsh have keyed the defensive efforts and have combined for 63 steals.
The Cook is in the Kitchen (Pun Intended)
The MAC Freedom Offensive Player of the Year and MAC Freedom Tournament Most Valuable Player
Spencer Cook has had a record-breaking offensive season. Cook scored his 1,000th career point in the team's first MAC Freedom game and after working his way into the program's all-time top-10 in career scoring, has continued to make his way up the career leaderboard. The Washington Township, New Jersey native recently moved into seventh place on the program's all-time career scoring list with 1,294 points and his 518 points this season are the sixth-most in any single season in program history.
In the Middle…
Junior center
Alec DiPietrantonio continues to be a force in the paint. In his third season on Castle Point, the Mount Laurel, New Jersey native has averaged a career-best 13.1 points per game, while pulling down 9.5 rebounds per game. He is six rebounds shy of becoming just the seventh player in program history to record 600 career rebounds. DiPietrantonio's 48 blocks this season ranks eighth in any single-season in program history and his 111 career rejections rank fifth. He's also posted 13 double-doubles.
Dishin' and Swishin'
Freshman
Matt Crowley has made an immediate impact in his first season on Castle Point. The Westfield, New Jersey native has handed out 111 assists and needs just nine assists to tie for 10th place on the single-season assist list. Crowley has shown he's more than capable of scoring the ball, posting his two highest point totals of the season in the MAC Freedom playoffs on a combined 10 of 18 shooting.
Nice to Meet You, Nichols
Nichols enters the weekend on a nine-game winning streak and has lost since an 85-69 defeat to Endicott on Jan. 18. Bruton leads the team in scoring with 22.8 points per game and is second in program history with 2,283 career points. The high-scoring guard became the fourth member of the school's 2,000-point club. Alumnus Marcos Echevarria, who finished his career 16th all-time in Division III history with 2,519 career points.
Junior guard Nate Tenaglia was named the CCC's Defensive Player of the Year to become the third player in program history to win the honor. Bruton was named to the CCC'S First Team for the fourth straight year, while junior Matt Morrow was named to the league's Second Team to round out the team's all-conference honorees.
The Bison average 81.6 points per game and are outscoring opponents by 4.2 points per game. The team is also on the right side of the battle of the boards (+1.9) and the turnover margin (+3.4). The teams did not share a common opponent.
Looking Ahead
The winner of tonight's game will take on the winner of the Colby-Christopher Newport contest in Canavan Arena tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m.
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