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Conference tournaments were in full swing last night, with notable upsets in the America East and Northeast Conferences, and a minor upset in the Ohio Valley.
Tonight, the Big South Conference's parity-heavy conference starts postseason play; the Metro Athletic Conference and Missouri Valley kick things off; and the Patriot, Ohio Valley and Atlantic Sun Conferences are back in action, which you can read about here.
First, last night's notables.
We pour one out to the fallen local, St. Francis NY - one five teams in the original 160 Division I schools to never make the NCAA Tournament. Former St. John's assistant coach Glenn Braica will, once again, need to dream of next year after scoring a middling 17 points in the second half against Mount St. Mary's (and giving up 36). BK Ashe scored 18 off the bench for the Mount.
Despite 35 from Sacred heart's Cane Broome - 25 in the seconds half to power a furious rally - the SHU Pioneers also fell to a lower seeded Liu Brooklyn, 84-76.
Wagner slipped by Robert Morris while Fairleigh Dickinson skirted disaster against the other St. Francis in Pennsylvania.
Wagner faces LIU-Brooklyn next and Fairleigh Dickinson takes on Mount St. Mary's, both on Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Albany had been the boogeyman in the America East, defeating Stony Brook three straight years to win the conference's tournament and automatic bid to the NCAA Tourney. But the Danes were slowed by the nine-win Hartford Hawks - who also exploded from beyond the arc - and Albany fell at home, 68-59. [I wrote about Albany's loss for Daly Dose of Hoops.]
Stony Brook needed a late run after falling behind by eight to the Maryland-Baltimore County Retrievers, but pulled out the win at home, 86-76. New Hampshire defeated Bingamton despite shooting 27% from the floor. Vermont - a sneaky-good squad that can shoot the lights out on a regular day - cruised to a win over the Maine Black Bears.