Posted: Mar 04, 2015

Men's Basketball to Face Southern Vermont in ECAC Semifinal

DANBURY, Conn.—The Anna Maria College men's basketball team has accepted a bid to the 2015 ECAC New England Tournament and will travel to Husson University for the four-team tournament. The fourth-seeded AMCATS will face No. 1 Southern Vermont on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.

It marks the fourth time in five years that the AMCATS have qualified for an ECAC appearance. In 2012-13, Anna Maria advanced to the tournament semifinal.

The winner of the Anna Maria and Southern Vermont game will face the winner of No. 2 Husson/No. 3 Fitchburg State game on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

Southern Vermont enters the ECAC Tournament with a 23-4 record. The Mountaineers saw their 16-game winning streak come to an end with an upset loss to Regis in the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship game.

Junior Deshawn Hamlet leads the Mountaineers with 19.4 points per game in a 57.5 percent effort from the floor in addition to a team-leading 7.6 rebounds. He was named the NECC Player of the Year, while teammate Daemond Carter, a freshman who saw action in 25 games, was tabbed the NECC Rookie of the Year.

Southern Vermont junior William Bromirski adds 9.8 points per game, senior Dolapo Olugbile adds 9.7 points per game, and junior Casey Hall chips in with 9.5 points per game. As a team, the Mountaineers average 76.6 points per game and outscore opponents by nearly 12 points per game.

The AMCATS earned the third-seed in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) tournament on the strength of a 12-6 conference record. The team was upset in the first round by the sixth-seeded Saints of Emmanuel College.

Anna Maria is led offensively by a trio of upperclassmen: junior Patrick Bradanese (Billerica, Mass.) scores 14.6 points per game, classmate Tyler Delorey (Worcester, Mass.) adds 13.5 points per game, and graduate student Quantez Franklin (South Yarmouth, Mass.) scored 12.8 points per game and totals a team-leading 6.6 rebounds per game.

Bradanese was named to the GNAC All-Conference Second Team, while Franklin was a third team selection.

If the AMCATS sweep the tournament, they would become the second-straight GNAC team to earn the title, as Johnson & Wales beat Lasell in last year's tournament championship.