Courtesy of PatriotLeague.org
CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Nearly half of the seeds for the Patriot League Men’s Basketball Tournament and the outright regular-season title came down to the final moments of the last game on the schedule on Saturday, and Bucknell held off Navy 77-73 to finish alone in first place and set the bracket for the postseason tourney.
With the win, the Bison (17-12, 14-4 Patriot League) won the Patriot League regular-season title for the fifth time in six years and 10th overall, five more than any other League school. The Bison have won the outright regular-season title in each of those five seasons and for the seventh time overall, and will play as the top seed in the League Tournament for the seventh time as well.
The victory by the Bison also caused a four-way tie for fourth place in the Patriot League, with Army West Point, Colgate, American and Navy all coming in at 9-9 in League action. Army West Point earned the No. 4 seed and the last spot as a quarterfinal host, while Colgate came in at No. 5, American at No. 6 and Navy at No. 7. It was just the second time four teams finished with the same record in the Patriot League standings, and first since a quartet of squads was tied for first place in 1994.
Earlier in the day, No. 2 seed Lehigh (15-14, 13-5) closed the regular season with a ninth-straight victory by winning 82-72 at Army West Point (18-12, 9-9) while Boston University (18-13, 11-7) captured the No. 3 seed in the postseason tourney with an 83-68 win at home against Holy Cross (10-19, 5-13). American (11-18, 9-9) beat Loyola Maryland (9-20, 8-10) by a 67-66 final on a free throw with under a second to go in a result that ended up giving the Eagles a first-round bye, while Lafayette (6-23, 3-15) snapped a 12-game losing skid with a 79-77 win over Colgate (13-16, 9-9) that forced the Raiders into the fourth-place tie.
The 2016 Patriot League Men’s Basketball Tournament begins with the first round on Tuesday as #10 Lafayette plays at #7 Navy and #9 Holy Cross visits #8 Loyola. The quarterfinals will be held on Thursday with #1 overall seed Bucknell hosting the 9/8 winner and #5 Colgate playing at #4 Army West Point on one half of the bracket and the #2 seed Lehigh at home against the 10/7 winner with #6 American at #3 Boston University on the other side. The first round and quarterfinal matchups will be available on Patriot League Network. The quarterfinal winners in each half of the bracket advance to the semifinals on Sunday, March 6 with tip times of 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. and the games shown on CBS Sports Network, while the higher seed hosts the Patriot League Championship on Wednesday, March 9 on CBSSN. The Patriot League champion receives the League’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
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