Men's Basketball | 3/2/2009 1:18:21 PM
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ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT men's basketball team (19-8) will play
Salem State College (21-6) in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Division III Basketball Tournament on Friday at
Widener University in Chester, Pa. That game will begins at 6 p.m. Widener (22-5) will host
Virginia Wesleyan (17-12) on Friday as well at 8 p.m.. The winners of the two Friday games will meet on Saturday in the second round at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $6.00 for adults and $3.00 for students with ID each day. Tickets will be available on Friday at the Schwartz Center on the campus of Widener. Friday's ticket is good for both NCAA games.
The Tigers earned an automatic berth into the 2009 NCAA Tournament by defeating Nazareth College in overtime, 76-71 at the Empire 8 Championship on Sunday. It is RIT's seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament and first trip since the 1999-00 season.
It is RIT's first Empire 8 Championship since the conference moved to a playoff format in 2002-03 and sixth conference title under Head Coach
Bob McVean.
Senior center
Mark Carson (Voorheesville, NY/Voorheesville) (Voorheesville, NY/Voorheesville) was named the MVP of the Empire 8 Tournament and also earned All-Empire 8 first team honors. He also became the first Academic All-American in the history of the RIT men's basketball program, as he was a Co-SIDA/ESPN The Magazine third team All-American selection on Feb. 26. Carson has the second most rebounds (385) in one season at RIT, along with seventh most points (533). He needs 11 more boards to become the single-season leader in rebounds. Carson now has 24 double-doubles in 27 games this season and at least 10 boards in 26 games and at least nine in all 27 games. Carson leads all of NCAA basketball with 14.3 boards per game.
Junior captain
Adam Sweet (Weedsport, NY/Weedsport) (Weedsport, NY/Weedsport),
Scott Young (Almond, NY/Hornell) (Almond, NY/Hornell), along with sophomore guards
Nate Kornichak (Strongsville, OH/Strongsville), #
Shawn Roe (Corning, NY/Corning East)# (Corning, NY/Corning East) and freshmen
Marcus Lowe (Anchorage, AK/Service) (Anchorage, AK/Service) and
Brendan Harder (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta) (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta) have all seen plenty of action during the second half of the season and will be key to RIT's success the rest of the way.
Young is averaging 11.3 points per game and has 71 made 3-pointers this season, fifth most in one year at RIT. He was an All-Empire 8 honorable mention selection. Korinchak leads the Tigers with 4.0 assists per game and 2.0 steals per contest. Lowe has come off the bench to score at least 10 points in six straight games.
RIT is outscoring its opponents 71.5-66.7 this season and outrebounding foes 39.8-33.4
Salem State was Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference Regular Season Champion and earned an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament. The Vikings have four players who average at least 10 points per game and have outscored their opponents 79.1-69.0 this season.
Salem State is led by senior center Dylan Holmes, the reigning two-time MASCAC Player of the Year. Holmes, the team's top scorer, rebounder and shot blocker, helped lead the Vikings to last year's NCAA Tournament and a final record of 21-7. He is averaging 18.7 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.7 blocks this season.
Senior guard Stevie Celestin, who directs the SSC backcourt, was selected a first team All-MASCAC member along with Holmes. Celestin is averaging 10.0 points, 6.0 boards and 4.7 assists per game Senior swingman Ricky Ogboin, who serves as a team captain with Holmes and Celestin, is one of the team's top all-around players, averaging 10.6 points per game. Nick Linear is averaging 12.7 points per contest.
This will be the first ever meetings between the two schools.
