WPI Men's Basketball Earns NCAA Tournament Bid
Worcester, MA --- For the second consecutive year, the WPI men's basketball team earned a coveted at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championships. The Engineers will take on Virginia Wesleyan on Friday evening at 6pm at Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA. The winner will take on the host Bears or Baptist Bible in a second round contest on Saturday evening at 7pm.
WPI, under the tutelage of seventh-year head coach Chris Bartley, brought home its fifth straight NEWMAC regular season crown by posting an 11-1 mark in conference play, four games ahead of its closest rival. The Crimson and Gray reached the championship game on the NEWMAC Tournament before falling Sunday afternoon to Coast Guard.
The Engineers are 21-6 on the season, and have won nine of their last 10 games. WPI will be making its fifth straight NCAA appearance.
Forced with having to replace two-time conference Player of the Year and 2007 Josten's Award winner (top Division III men's basketball student-athlete) Ryan Cain, the Crimson and Gray sported a balanced attack this season featuring three players averaging between 12.9 and 14.2 points.
Senior forward Antoine Coleman (Everett, MA) led the team in scoring and rebounding and is among the leading candidates for NEWMAC Player of the Year. Classmate Jim Marois (Worcester, MA) averaged 13.7 points while connecting on 82.9% of his free throws. The third piece of the three-headed attack is junior guard Jerome Kirkland (Boston, MA) who anchored the Engineers defensive effort with a team-best 49 steals to go along with 12.9 points per game.
The trio of Coleman, Marois and fellow senior Ryan Bourque (Nashua, NH) enter tournament play with an eye-popping 90-18 (.833) mark over their four years at WPI.
Virginia Wesleyan (22-6) has appeared in the last two NCAA national championship games. The Marlins won the title in 2006 before falling to Amherst in last year's title tilt. Host Ursinus enters the tournament on a 19-game winning streak while Baptist Bible (18-8) will be making its first NCAA appearance after winning the North Eastern Athletic Conference tournament.
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