Mount St. Mary’s Basketball Puts MD Team in NCAA Tourney

Rashad Whack of Mount St. Mary’s … Credit: Matthew O’Haren, USA Today sports

Even though the University of Maryland Terrapins basketball team demonstrated it can play at the highest level by defeating #5 Virginia this past weekend, it is almost certainly going to take an ACC Tournament victory for them to get to the Big Dance.

Towson University was the #2 seed in their CAA Conference tournament but fell in the semifinals to William and Mary 75-71.

But the state of Maryland will minimally be represented in the NCAA Tournament by Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD. The Mountaineers are in the tourney by virtue of their Tuesday evening championship win over Robert Morris to capture the NEC automatic bid.

The Mount – as it is commonly called locally – has a season record at the moment at 16-16, and they entered their conference tournament as the #4 seed. In the finals they squared off with the top seed Robert Morris – having twice been beaten during the season by the Colonials 77-69 and 69-61.

But The Mount men had their best shooting game of the season. They got off to a great start and a 48-32 halftime lead over Robert Morris (21-13) on 60% shooting from the floor and 8-18 beyond the arc. RMU never got closer than a 10-point deficit in the second half, as the Mountaineers won 88-71.

The MSM men “whacked” Robert Morris – as Tournament MVP Rashad Whack scored 20 points in the win. The Mount had five players in double figures.

This will be the fourth time that Mount St. Mary’s has been in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Their most recent appearance was in 2008.

Chances are good that they will play a top team in the nation, that is, unless they are selected for the play-in game. The selection process will happen this coming Sunday.