SKYLINE CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
SKYLINE CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. | The Skyline Conference Basketball Championships get underway across the metropolitan New York area Tuesday night (Feb. 25), and Farmingdale State College will play host to a pair of contests at the Walter A. Lynch Sports Center. The Rams' women's team is seeded fourth in their six-team field and will open the night with a 5:30 p.m. tip-off against St. Joseph's University-Long Island, while the top-seeded and two-time defending champion FSC men's side will play an 8 p.m. quarterfinal against eighth-seeded U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Admission to Tuesday's games is free of charge.
Semifinal play in both championships will take place Thursday (Feb. 27), while the championship finals are slated to be played on Saturday (March 1). The winner of the championships will receive the Skyline's automatic bid to their respective NCAA Division III Championships, which get underway Friday, March 7.
Ironically, both contests at FSC on Tuesday will feature rematches from Saturday's respective regular-season finales. On the women's side, the Rams (17-8, 14-6 Skyline) picked up a 56-51 victory on the road against the Golden Eagles (17-8, 13-7). With the victory, which was sparked by a career-high 19 points from senior guard
Erin Conte (Melville, N.Y.), head coach
Mark Dellecave's Farmingdale State team will play host to a home tournament game for the first time since 2018. The Rams have won seven straight contests, and their 17 victories to date are the most since the 2014-15 outfit compiled an 18-win campaign. Tuesday's winner will advance to a Thursday 7 p.m. semifinal at top-seeded U.S. Merchant Marine Academy – the top-rated team in Region III in the latest NCAA Division III Power Index (NPI) and No. 28 in the rating overall.
In men's action, Farmingdale State (16-9, 13-3 Skyline) is the top seed in the tournament for the fourth-consecutive season. The Mariners (10-15, 6-10) knocked off the Rams on Saturday, 73-66, in a game USMMAÂ needed to win in order to ensure qualification for the championship. FSC senior post
Hamdel Mohammed (Bronx, N.Y.) scored 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting over the weekend, while junior shooting guard
Michael Notias (Manhasset, N.Y.) netted 11 to score in double figures for the fifth-consecutive contest. Tuesday's winner will advance to a Thursday semifinal against the winner of the (4) Maritime/(5) St. Joseph's-Long Island quarterfinal match-up.Â
Fans unable to make it to Farmingdale State can watch a video stream of the
women's and
men's games beginning 10 minutes before the respective tip-offs, with Seth Cantor providing play-by-play on the broadcasts.
