MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College men's basketball team has earned an at-large bid to the 2022 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship.
Riding a streak of eight consecutive postseason berths prior to the pandemic, Saint Anselm has earned yet another NCAA tournament appearance upon the team's return to the court in 2021-22. The No. 3 seeded Hawks will battle the No. 6 seed, New Haven, on Saturday, Mar. 12 with a game time to be determined.
The East Region Championship will be played at Bentley (22-4), the winner of Sunday's Northeast-10 Conference postseason title and the top seed entering Saturday's action. The Falcons will take on eighth-seeded Felician (19-9).
The second seed, Franklin Pierce (18-10), battles seventh-seeded Saint Thomas Aquinas (26-4) – the Ravens came up just short in their quest for the NE10 postseason championship, falling to Bentley on Sunday by a 68-62 margin. Fourth-seeded Dominican (N.Y.) (21-7) and No. 5 Pace (19-9) round out the field.
Playing at home, the Hawks came away with a 67-60 victory over New Haven during the regular season on Wednesday, Jan. 19. In the NE10 Quarterfinals this past Monday, the Hawks claimed an 81-79 overtime victory in West Haven as senior Chris Paul (Highland Mills, N.Y.) scored a career-high 40 points against the Chargers.
Saint Anselm most recently won the East Region Championship in 2019 under Head Coach Keith Dickson and made it all the way to the Final Four that season. The Hawks won their first regional title in 1999-00 en route to the Elite Eight and have qualified for the postseason 21 times under Dickson's watch.
The eight regional champions will advance to the quarterfinals in conjunction with the 2022 NCAA Division II Men's Elite Eight. The quarterfinal, semifinal and championship games will be conducted at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. starting on Tuesday, Mar. 22.
Detailed information about the game against New Haven, including start times, ticket information and a comprehensive game preview, will be released in the coming days.
