The Lasell men's basketball team sealed the Great Northeast Athletic Conference regular season title with their home win over Emerson College on Tuesday, February 17th, in a 79-68 victory. As a result of that, the Lasers are now set to host the GNAC Championship Tournament as the highest seed, beginning Tuesday, February 24th.
Lasell (17-8, 14-4 GNAC) will face the eighth seed, Norwich University (7-18, 5-13 GNAC) in the quarter finals. The Lasers have topped the Cadets twice in two meetings this season by scores of 100-69 and 93-68. In other quarter final pairings, #7 Albertus Magnus will face #2 Emerson College; #6 Rivier will play at #3 St. Joseph's (Me.), and #5 Johnson & Wales will take on #4 Emmanuel, with each higher seed hosting.
In the semi-finals, the winner of the Lasell/Norwich contest will face the winner of JWU/Emmanuel at the higher seeds home court, and the winner of Rivier/St. Joe's will play the victor of Albertus/Emerson.
The championship game will be played on Saturday, February 28th, and the team that is triumphant will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Lasell topped Emerson in the finals of the 2007-2008 season, 86-72, and went on to play Brandeis University in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Lasers are now looking to repeat as GNAC Tournament Champions in order to head to NCAA's for their second straight season.
Complete tournament schedule and rankings are as follows:
Quarter Finals, Tuesday Feb. 24th:
#8 Norwich @ #1 Lasell, 7:00 p.m.
#5 Johnson & Wales @ #4 Emmanuel
#6 Rivier @ #3 St. Joe's Me.
#7 Albertus Magnus @ #2 Emerson
Semi Finals, Thursday, Feb. 26th:
Winner of Lasell/Norwich VS. winner of JWU/Emmanuel
@ highest remaining seed
Winner of Rivier/St. Joe's VS. winner of Albertus/Emerson
@ highest remaining seed
Championship, Saturday, February 28th:
@ highest remaining seed, TBA