Hornets Head to Ohio Wesleyan for Opening Rounds
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- Fresh off its first ODAC title since 1979, the Lynchburg College men's basketball team is set to leave for Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, for first and second round action in the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament. The Hornets will square off with the University of Scranton on Friday.
Lynchburg is the lone ODAC men's hoops school to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The last time the conference featured just one team on the national stage was in 2005. Over the past 10 seasons -- 2006 thru 2015 -- the ODAC had seen 25 squads enter the NCAA field.
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Lynchburg (22-6), winner of the ODAC Tournament, is one of two automatic entries playing in the four-team pod at Ohio Wesleyan's Branch Rickey Arena, which bears a striking resemblance to Ragan-Brown Fieldhouse at Guilford College. The other Pool A team at OWU is the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg (19-9), which won the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) crown. Ohio Wesleyan (23-4), which also hosted the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament, picked up an at-large bid after falling to Denison University (95-85) in the conference semifinals. Scranton (19-7) also used a Pool C bid to earn entry in to the field of 62 after its loss to Susquehanna University (77-72) in the Landmark Conference semifinals.
The Hornets and Royals will meet for the first time on the men's basketball court at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, with the programs' featuring very different NCAA Tournament profiles. LC is 0-4 all-time, with its appearances coming in 1976 and 1979 under double-elimination format. Scranton is making its 27th overall and third straight appearance on the national stage, owning a 37-26 record that includes national championships in 1976 and 1983.
The Pitt.-Greensburg Bobcats and host Battling Bishops cap first round Friday with a 7:30 p.m. meeting. The pair square off for just the second time, with OWU winning their inaugural contest, 90-50, in the 2012-13 season. Another matchup of distinctly different NCAA Tournament pedigrees, UP-G appears in a NCAA field for the first time, while OWU is making its fifth consecutive and seventh overall NCAA D-III postseason appearance. The Battling Bishops own an 8-5 overall record, which includes the 1988 national title.
A victory for Lynchburg would not just mean the program's first NCAA win, but that 23rd triumph would mark a new team record. It would also setup another first-time pairing as LC has not played OWU or Pitt.-Greensburg in its men's basketball history.
First and second round action takes place March 4-5. The tournament continues with sectional play in the third and quarterfinal rounds March 11-12. The semifinals and finals will be held March 18-19 at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Va.
For more information on the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament, go to www.ncaa.com. For more on ODAC men's hoops, visit the websites of any of the participating schools, or go to the ODAC's home on the Internet at www.odaconline.com. Don't forget to become a fan of the ODAC on Facebook and follow the ODAC on Twitter at @odacathletics.