The First Round of the 2015 MAAC Men's Basketball Championship Begin Thursday, March 5
MAAC Sports
ALBANY, N.Y. – The 2015 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship starts on Thursday, March 5 with three first round contests at the Times Union Center in Albany, New York.
The championship opens up at 5:00 p.m. with No. 8 Siena College (10-19, 7-13) playing No. 9 Niagara University (8-21, 7-13). Siena swept Niagara in the two regular season meetings. The Saints defeated the Purple Eagles on Jan. 08, 79-69, and on Jan. 18, 74-70. The winner will advance to the quarterfinal round to face No. 1 Iona College on Saturday, March 7 at 12:00 p.m. on ESPN3.
For the third straight year in the first round, No. 7 Saint Peter’s University (14-17, 8-12) will face No. 10 Fairfield University (7-23, 5-15), with tip set for 7:00 p.m. The teams split their two regular season match ups with the home team victorious in both of the meetings. Saint Peter’s won the first game, 69-58, on Feb. 07, while Fairfield won the second matchup, 57-43, on Feb. 21. The winner moves on to Saturday night’s quarterfinal game and takes on No. 2 Rider University at 5:30 p.m., on ESPN3.
The final game of the first round features a match up between No. 6 Quinnipiac University (9-11, 15-14) and No. 11 Marist College (5-15, 6-24) at 9:00 p.m. The Bobcats won both of the meetings this season over the Red Foxes. Quinnipiac won the first contest, 66-54, on Jan. 11, and the second meeting exactly one week later on Jan. 18, by the score of, 72-71. The winner of this match up will face No. 3 Manhattan College in the final game of the quarterfinals round on Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. on ESPN3.