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The top-two teams in the Northeast Conference will be duking it out on national television for the conference championship on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. In seven games, there have been no upsets, although there was a close call in the first of two Semifinal Saturday contests in Smithfield. With 0.8 seconds remaining, Charles Pride broke open a deadlocked game with a free throw to propel #1 Bryant past #4 Mount St. Mary's, 70-69. The Bulldogs will host #2 Wagner, which used a 15-2 run in the first half to take pull away from #3 LIU and take a lead they would not relinquish. Bryant will be shooting for a second NEC crown when its home court at the Chace Center. Tuesday's final can be seen live on ESPN2 and ESPN3 at 7:00 pm with Doug Sherman and Tim Welsh in the booth.
#1 Bryant 70, #4 Mount St. Mary's 69
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Smithfield, RI -- Saturday's first Northeast Conference semifinal game featuring #4 Mount St. Mary's at top-seeded Bryant came down to the final second inside a rowdy Chase Athletic Center. In a rematch of last year's NEC championship game, Charles Pride hit a free throw with 0.8 seconds left to propel the Bulldogs to a 70-69 victory.
In a back-and-forth game, Mount St. Mary's built an eight-point lead — its largest of the game — at 58-50 with eight minutes remaining. But Bryant battled back and tied up the score at 62-all on a pair of free throws from Pride with 3:12 left. Losing Jalen Benjamin on the previous possession with an injury, Deandre Thomas fouled out on the play to leave the Mountaineers without their starting backcourt for the final three minutes.
Neither team was able to break the tie over the next two minutes until Pride hit two more free throws with 52 seconds on the clock to put Bryant on top, 64-62. The Bulldogs' press forced a steal, which translated into a quick layup for Pride to make it 66-62. The Mount answered with Malik Jefferson connecting on a floater with 34 seconds left to cut the deficit to two. The Mount fouled Hall Elisias, and he hit both free throws to make the score 68-64. Reaves then came up with a big shot for the Mount, draining a deep three-pointer to cut the deficit to 68-67 with 21 seconds remaining.
The Mount immediately fouled Hall Elisias, and this time he hit 1-of-2 to push the Bulldogs' advantage to 69-67. The Mount got the ball to Mezrie Offurum, who drove to the basket and dished to Jefferson for a dunk that tied the score at 69-69 with 10 seconds left, setting up the final seconds. Bryant's Peter Kiss drove the right side, but his shot was off the mark. There was a scramble for the rebound that saw Pride come up the ball, and he was fouled with 0.8 seconds left. He missed the first shot, but converted on the second for the winning point. The Mount's desperation heave was off the mark, and Bryant was able to escape with the one-point victory.
Pride led all scorers in the game with 24 points while adding 10 rebounds for a double-double. He was 13-of-15 at the free-throw line. Benjamin led the Mountaineers with 16 points while Offurum added 14 in the losing effort.
Bryant is now 1-2 all-time against Mount St. Mary's in NEC Tournament play and will be playing for the program's first-ever title on Tuesday.
#2 Wagner 82, #3 LIU 62
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Staten Island, NY -- A dominant stretch in the opening half led #2 Wagner past #3 LIU, 82-62, on Semifinal Saturday of the Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament. The Seahwawks used a 20-5 run in the opening part of the first half to takea. lead they would not relinquish down the stretch.
Player of the Year Alex Morales had a dominant night, scoring 19 points while adding seven rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals. He went 7-of-17 from the field for Wagner, which went 55.2 percent in the opening half — including a 4-of-8 clip from long range — to take a 47-31 advantage into the break. The Seahawks finished the game shooting just under 50 percent (49.2%), and used a 16-of-19 effort from the free-throw line (84.2%) to bolster its lead.
LIU's Ty Flowers led all scorers with 24 points, while Eral Penn added 15 points for the Sharks, who were held to just 3-of-19 shooting from behind the arc (15.8%). The Sharks also missed out on free points from the free-throw line, where they converted on just 53.6 percent attempts with a 15-of-28 effort.
A well-balanced offensive effort helped Wagner jump out to its early lead in the first half. Running out to a 19-3 lead with 13:02 to go, the Seahawks would push ahead by as many as 17 on a transition triple from Zaire Williams, who scored all 10 of his points before the break.
Delonnie Hunt, who put up 17 points on the night, stretched the lead to 22 — Wagner's largest of the game — on a three with 12:36 left to play. The Sharks would show some life, though, as the pulled within 12 on several occasions down the stretch. With 3:45 remaining, Penn threw down a two-handed slam that would make it 72-60. But LIU wouldn't come any closer, as Wagner responded with a 8-1 spurt to push the advantage back to 18 inside the game's final minute.
With the win, ?Wagner improves to 5-3 in the postseason against LIU.
The Seahawks look to bring the NEC championship back to Staten Island for the first time since 2003, which marks the' lone title in program history. This will be Wagner's fourth trip to the NEC final.