INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- The Moravian College men's basketball team is headed to Williams (Mass.) College for the first two rounds of the 2018 NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament, and the Greyhounds will play Ramapo College of New Jersey in the First Round on Friday, March 2 at 5:30 p.m.
The Hounds reached the NCAA Tournament for just the third time in school history and the first time as an automatic qualifier after Moravian won its first-ever Landmark Conference championship last Saturday with an 81-78 victory at Juniata College. The program's other two trips to the NCAA Tournament in 1983 and 2008 were as at-large selections. The Blue and Grey lost to John Jay College, 80-74, in the First Round in Johnston Hall in 2008, and the Greyhounds dropped a 73-59 decision to The University of Scranton in the First Round in 1983 and a 76-54 contest to Grove City College in the consolation round played back in the early NCAA Tournaments.
The full NCAA Division III interactive bracket for the 2018 Tournament can be found at https://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/basketball-men/d3.
Moravian has won a school-record 20 games for the first time in the program's 81-year history, and the squad is 20-7 overall this season. Hounds' Head Coach Justin Potts has Moravian in the postseason for the second straight year in just his third season back at the school, and he has a 50-30 career record.
The Hounds enter the NCAA Tournament having set six single season school records – most wins with 20, most points scored with 2,324, most three-pointers with 309, most steals with 310, most blocked shots with 107 and most assists with 444. The Blue and Grey also set marks with 22 three-pointers and 27 assists in a game versus Catholic on January 13.
Leading the squad on the court have been juniors guard Jimmy Murray and forward Oneil Holder, who became the 22nd and 23rd players to reach 1,000 career points at Moravian earlier this month and both enter the NCAA Tournament tied for 16th in school history with 1,118 points. Murray is tossing in 17.4 points per game to go with 62 rebounds, 61 three-pointers, 56 assists and 41 steals, and he was selected to the Lehigh Valley Small College Basketball Team of the Year, while Holder is also contributing 17.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per contest with 45 assists, 41 steals, 38 blocked shots and 18 three-pointers.
Sophomore forward C.J. Barnes is netting 10.7 points and grabbing 3.4 rebounds per outing to go along with 44 three-pointers, 31 steals, 12 assists and eight blocked shots while junior guard Nicholas Casazza is scoring 10.1 points per game with 70 three-pointers, 55 rebounds, 40 assists and 40 steals. Sophomore guard Elijah Davis is contributing 7.0 points per contest with 61 rebounds, 33 three-pointers, 32 steals, 29 assists and 11 blocked shots while senior guard Matt Cardonne has an average of 5.7 points per outing with 43 rebounds, 33 three-pointers, 21 assists and 10 steals.
Junior guard Will Brazukas leads the Greyhounds with 102 assists to go with a scoring average of 5.0 points per game, 50 rebounds. 22 steals and 10 three-pointers. Sophomore guard Mike Martino has dished out 83 assists to go with 80 points, 62 rebounds, 28 steals and 14 three-pointers while sophomore forward Addis Ralph has 103 points, 63 rebounds and 23 blocked shots. Senior forward Khalil Rhett has contributed 87 rebounds, 73 points, 26 steals and 22 assists while freshman guard Matt O'Connor has 53 points, 20 rebounds, 17 steals, 11 three-pointers and 10 assists in his debut season.
Freshman guard Keith Otto has 40 points and 14 rebounds for the Hounds while freshman guard Shon Wilson has added 32 points, 10 rebounds and 10 steals. Senior forward Aaron Brown has 16 rebounds and six points in his return to the program this winter while sophomore guard Tyron Brown has seven points, eight rebounds and eight assists.