The Wesleyan University men's basketball team, which finished the season with a 14-10 overall record,
was selected as the seventh seed among eight teams for the ECAC New England Division III Tournament.
Opening-round games in the tournament are slated for Wednesday, Feb. 28. Wesleyan travels to Keene, N.H.
to face the Keene St. Owls (17-9) at 7 p.m. Other first-round games are: #8 Suffolk at #1 Williams ;
#6 Emerson at #3 Colby ; #5 Western Connecticut at #4 Babson. Winners advance to the semi-finals,
which will be hosted by the highest remaining seed Saturday. The championship game will be played Sunday at
the same site.
Wesleyan will be making its seventh appearance in the ECAC tournament, the last coming 10 years ago
(1990-91) when the team finished 18-6 and lost in the opening round to Tufts, 97-82. Wesleyan was one of
five teams tied for first place in the NESCAC with a 6-3 league record this year and was seeded third of seven in
the NESCAC playoffs. The Cardinals dropped an 80-72 decision to Connecticut College in the opening round last Tuesday.
Wesleyan is led by junior swingman Leo Jones, who is ranked in five of the eight statistical categories tracked
by the NESCAC. He is third in scoring (18.2 PPG), first in rebounds (10.0 RPG), fifth in assists (4.3 APG),
fourth in steals (2.2 SPG) and 10th in field-goal percentage (48.4). Wesleyan's number two scorer is sophomore
Chris Bray, who averages 14.7 PPG and has been the team's leading scorer each of the last three games.
He paces the team and is second in the NESCAC in three-point percentage (44.0). With 66 treys this season,
he needs two more to break the seasonal mark of 67 set in 1994-95 by Brian O'Dowd during a 23-game season.
Jones became the 12th Wesleyan player, and only the second junior, to surpass 1,000 career points.
He has 1,004 to his credit.
Keene is led by Little East Player of the year Chris Coates, who averages nearly 24 points and over
nine rebounds a game as a 6-3/195 swingman. He is ranked among the top 20 Division III players in the country
for scoring. He is supported by Dave Stantial, who at 6-4/190, averages 16 points and eight caroms a contest.
Wesleyan and Keene have never met on the basketball court. They have had five common opponents this season:
R.I.C., Eastern Conn., and Western Conn. from the Little East ; Middlebury and Tufts from the NESCAC.
Wesleyan is 4-1 against the five while Keene is 6-3, having played its league rivals twice while also meeting
Western in the semi-finals of the Little East Tournament.
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