Brooklyn Receives At-Large Bid to ECAC DIII Metro Tournament

Brooklyn, NY --- The Brooklyn College Men's Basketball team has received an at-large bid to the 2012 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Metro Tournament. The Bulldogs received the #3 seed and will play host to the #6 seeded Scarlet Raiders of Rutgers-Newark on Wednesday, February 29th at 7:30 pm at the West Quad Center. The tournament consists of a field of eight teams from the New York/New Jersey area.

BC earned a slot in this year's ECAC DIII Metro Tournament on the strength of its 17-9 overall record. The Bulldogs, who were the #2 seed in the 2012 City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC)/Con Edison Men's Basketball Championships, had its hopes of a third CUNYAC Championship in four years erased, as Brooklyn lost a heartbreaker in the quarterfinals round to #7 York College in overtime, 79-73.

This marks the second ECAC bid for Brooklyn under head coach Steven Podias, who last led his team to the ECAC tournament in 2008. Brooklyn faced Rutgers-Newark in the quarterfinals that season as well, with BC getting the 87-79 victory.

Rutgers-Newark, members of the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC), received an at-large berth via its 14-12 record this season. The Scarlet Raiders, the #3 seed from the North Division in the NJAC Tournament, also suffered a first round loss in its conference tournament, falling to the #2 seed from the South Division Kean University, by a score of 55-53.

Brooklyn is led by its CUNYAC All-Star Second Team back-court tandem of Amil John and Tyshawn Russell. On the season, John is averaging 17.5 points per game, to go along with 6.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 3.4 steals per game, all team-highs. John ranks fourth nationally within Division III in steals per game. Russell is the teams leading scorer at 21.4 ppg, good for 20th in all of Division III.

For John and Russell, this marks the third postseason appearance for the duo in their four years at BC, as both were members of the back-to-back (2009 & 2010) CUNYAC Championship teams that received NCAA Tournament bids.

As a team, the Bulldogs rank third in the country in turnover margin (+9.0) and fourth in steals per game (13.4). BC is also ranked 17th nationally in three-point field goal defense (29.3%).

Along with John and Russell, junior forward Kavon Baker has also had a solid season, averaging 13.7 ppg, to go along with 5.6 rpg, 3.1 apg and 2.8 spg.

The CUNYAC (Brooklyn, Medgar Evers, and Baruch) and NJAC (Richard Stockton, New Jersey City University and Rutgers-Newark) received the most bids of any conferences in the Metro, as both leagues received three bids each. Top seeded Stevens Institute of Technology from the Empire 8 and Mount Saint Mary's from the Skyline Conference round out the eight team field.

First Round – Wednesday, February, 29
No. 8 Baruch College (14-13) at No. 1 Stevens Institute of Technology (19-7), 8:00 p.m.
No. 7 Medgar Evers College (17-11) at No. 2 Richard Stockton College (19-8), 7:30 p.m.
No. 6 Rutgers University-Newark (14-12) at No. 3 Brooklyn College (17-9), 7:30 p.m.
No. 5 New Jersey City University (17-7) at No. 4 Mount Saint Mary College (20-7), 7:00 p.m.

Semifinals – Saturday, March 3 (at highest remaining seed)
No. 1/No. 8 winner vs. No. 4/No. 5 winner, time TBD
No. 2/No. 7 winner vs. No. 3/No. 6 winner, time TBD

Championship – Sunday, March 4 (same site as semifinals)
Two Semifinal Winners, time TBD