Men's Basketball | 3/6/2025 9:56:34 AM
Utica University men's basketball, along with the SUNY Brockport and SUNY Geneseo women's basketball programs will represent the Empire 8 in the 2025 Division III Basketball Championships, which begin on Friday, March 7.
UTICA MEN
The Pioneers (21-7), who will be making the program's third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, face host Montclair State University (21-6) at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 7, at Panzer Athletic Center in Montclair, NJ. The Red Hawks won the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) for the first time since the 2002-23 season on Feb. 28 and , advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three seasons and eighth time in program history.
The No. 2 seeded Pioneers beat No. 4 seed SUNY Poly, 89-76 on Saturday to win their third Empire 8 tournament title, earning the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Utica graduate student Damien Call was named the 2025 Empire 8 Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament Most Valuable Player, while fellow E8 Men’s Basketball All-Tournament Team selection Liam Teague scored 18 points to go along with eight rebounds and four blocks in the title game Saturday.
Hamilton College (20-6) faces the University of Western New England (21-6) at 3:15 p.m. on Friday in the other first-round contest hosted by Montclair State. The winners will play at 5:45 p.m. on Saturday in the second-round game.
SUNY BROCKPORT WOMEN
The SUNY Brockport women's basketball team has earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championships and will travel to Randolph Macon College in Ashland, VA for first round action where the Golden Eagles (24-4) will take on Elizabethtown University (22-4) on Friday, March 7. The contest is scheduled to begin at 4:45 p.m. Host Randolph Macon (27-1) will face Piedmont College (20-7) at 7:15 p.m. Friday with the two winners meeting at 7:15 p.m. Saturday.
The Golden Eagles are making their sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and their first appearance since 2009 when they won the SUNYAC Conference Championship to earn an automatic bid.
Brockport heads into the NCAA Tournament with a 24-4 overall record, just one win shy of the school-record of 25 wins originally set by the 2008 edition of the Golden Eagles. Brockport went 12-2 at home and 12-2 on the road this season. As a team, the Golden Eagles high powered offense ranks third nationally with 2,231 points this season, good for an average of 79.7 points per game. Brockport also ranks 12th nationally with an average of 14.3 steals per contest.
SUNY GENESEO WOMEN
The SUNY Geneseo women's basketball team won the 2025 Empire 8 Championship, earned the league automatic qualifier into the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championships, and will travel to host Catholic University in Washington, DC for first round action at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 7. Christopher Newport will face Montclair State in the opening contest at 4:30 p.m. Friday with the two winners meeting at 7 p.m. Saturday.
The Knights earned their 14th overall bid to the NCAA Tournament, and the first since the 2018-19 season. Geneseo enters the NCAA tournament with a 22-6 overall record, having finished 14-2 in E8 play to claim the No. 2 seed in the league tournament. Geneseo defeated Alfred University, St. John Fisher University, and defeated top-seeded SUNY Brockport, 66-63 on March 1 to win the Empire 8 Championship in its first season as a league member. Empire 8 Tournament Most Valuable Mackenzie Reigle scored 21 points in the title game victory and leads all of Division III with 7.96 assists per game. Her 223 assists are an Empire 8 single-season record.
Catholic is 24-4 on the season, ranked No. 15 in the final NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball NPI. The Cardinals earned an at-large bid after falling to Scranton University in the Landmark Conference Championship game on March 1. Christopher Newport enters the tournament with a 26-1 record after defeating Mary Washington, 61-48 to claim the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. Montclair State enters with a 23-4 mark, having defeated The College of New Jersey for the 2025 NJAC Championship.
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com and
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