Steve Morano
After another grueling season of basketball in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, both the men’s and the women’s basketball teams look to start off their conference playoff tournament in fantastic fashion in Atlantic City, New Jersey on March 12.
Both coach Antoine White and coach Dan Engelstad take their teams into a tough, yet competitive field as both teams have performed well over the course of the winter sports season.
On the women’s side of the tournament in Atlantic City, Coach White will be tasked with a challenge, as they have been seeded in 6th place, right in the middle of the pack of the conferences schools.
They will play Marist, who are the 7th seed in the tournament, on the 12th in the first round. The Red Foxes have a overall record of 6-24 and have a conference record of 4-16.
When paired with the Mountaineers, who have a combine record of 13-16 and a conference record of 10-10, it can be surmised that the Mount will be favored in that contest. A standout, point scorer for the team is senior, Jessica Tomasetti, who scored her 1,000-career point on March 9 against St. Peter’s.
This season, Tomasetti has a field goal percentage of .387, a 3-point percentage of .319 and 391 total points on the year, a team leading total.
Another key player for the team is senior, Isabella Hunt, who has brought down a team leading 226 total rebounds on the year as well as a field goal percentage of .461. Two other players that have performed well are junior, Jo Raflo and senior, Jada Lee, who are both in the top five for team scoring on the season.
For the men’s side of the tournament, Coach Engelstad and his players have a slightly tougher task to perform. The Mountaineers take on the nine seeded, Canisus, in the first round.
The eight seeded Mountaineers have an overall record of 13-18 and a conference record of 9-11. The Golden Griffins sit with a overall record of 13-17, playing one less game then the Mount, and a 7-12 conference record of. They battle against each other in Atlantic City on March 12, the same day as the women’s game against Marist.
Several players stand out for Coach Engelstad as they start the tournament, one of them being graduate student, George Tinsley. The grad student in his final year of eligibility is a sneaky, point grabbing forward who notched his 1,000 point on March 9 in a heartbreaking 96-92 loss at home versus Fairfield.
Another key player to the team is senior, Dakota Leffew, who leads the team in total point on the year with 506. Other crucial players on team for the tournament include senior, Josh Reaves, sophomore, Dola Adebayo and first-year, De’Shayne Montgomery.
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