The Continentals (19-7 overall) receive the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament that goes along with winning the conference championship. Hamilton has won the last two conference tournament titles and will be playing in its eighth NCAA Tournament in the last 10 years. The tournament field will be announced on Sunday, Feb. 29 at 10:30 p.m.
Greg Leone made five of those three-pointers and led the Continentals with 28 points. Leone also handed out a game-high seven assists. Joe Smith recorded a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Tim Welchons made four three-pointers and finished with 20 points. Mike Evans scored 18 first-half points on six trifectas off the bench. C.J. Cantil added nine points and six assists. The 104 points was the most for Hamilton since it defeated Notre Dame (Ohio) College 112-64 on Jan. 5, 2002.
Jared Hite tried to carry Rensselaer (16-10) to victory with his 40 points and 11 rebounds. Hite was 18-for-24 from the field. Paris Moore and Matt Zepernick chipped in 13 points apiece. John Van Schaick notched 11 markers and Neal Wesson came off the bench to score 11 points and hand out four assists.
There was a 15-minute delay 3:33 into the first half when some lights went out in the field house. However, it didn’t seem to affect either team’s play. The two teams committed a total of 11 turnovers and combined to make 26 three-point shots.
The Red Hawks led once at 4-3 early in the game before the Continentals scored six straight points to take a 9-4 lead. Rensselaer came back to tie the score at 25 midway through the first half, but Hamilton responded with five straight points and eventually extended the lead to 54-42 at halftime. The Continentals went up by as much as 20 twice in the second half, but the Red Hawks slowly crept back into the game, and finally pulled to within 90-87 on a Moore three-pointer with 3:03 left. However, Hamilton scored the next eight points to put the game out of reach with just 1:19 remaining.