FLUSHING, N.Y. – Welcome to March as the Queens College men's basketball team has clinched the number three seed in the East Coast Conference men's basketball tournament.
 
For the third time in the last four seasons, head coach Matt Collier and the Knights are postseason bound. It is also the second time in the last four years that the Knights will be hosting the ECC First Round Game.
 
The senior duo of guard Shamar Chester (Queens, N.Y.) and forward Jayden Seraphin (Lakeview, N.Y.) are the lone two Knights from the 2021-2022 squad that will be part of men's basketball team to appear in two home playoffs games.
 
Picked to finish sixth in the ECC Preseason Poll, the Knights would conclude the regular season with an overall record of 12-16 and 8-8 in conference play to clinch the number three seed.
 
Entering the final week of the regular season, Collier and his squad needed to go 2-0 on the week to host a First Round game and they would get the job done on the road winning in two places they had not registered a win in over the last three years.
 
On Wednesday, Feb. 26 Queens would erase a first-half deficit of 12 points to defeat the University of District of Columbia before the Knights erased a 25-point deficit on Saturday, Mar. 1 with senior forward Damiri Lindo (Oakland, CA.) leading the charge to complete the victory by hitting the game-winning bucket with 14 seconds remaining to defeat the College of Staten Island and clinch the number three seed.

East Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Bracket:

Daemen University Wildcats have clinched the #1 seed and will host the Semi-Final and Final games in Amherst, N.Y. on Saturday, March 8, and Sunday, March 9. The Wildcats await the winner between the #4 seed Roberts Wesleyan University Redhawks vs. #5 seed College of Staten Island Dolphins.
 
Joining the Wildcats will be the #2 seed and five-time defending champions St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans. The Spartans await the winner of the #3 seed Queens vs. #6 seed Molloy University Lions.
 
The First Round games take place on Wednesday, March 5 at 7 p.m.
2025 East Coast Conference Men's Basketball Championship
First Round – Wednesday, March 5 at No. 3 and No. 4 seeds
7:00 PM – No. 6 Molloy at No. 3 Queens (@ Flushing, NY)
7:00 PM – No. 5 Staten Island at No. 4 Roberts Wesleyan (@ Rochester, NY)
Semifinals – Saturday, March 8 (@ No. 1 Daemen)
5:00 PM – Winner of No. 5 Staten Island/No. 4 Roberts Wesleyan at No. 1 Daemen
7:30 PM – Winner of No. 6 Molloy/No. 3 Queens vs. No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas
Final – Sunday, March 9 (@ No. 1 Daemen)
3:30 PM – Winners of the Semifinals 

Series History

The Knights earned a series split against the Lions with both sides defending home court with Queens defeating Molloy 105-90 on December 7, 2024, while the Lions earned a 92-68 victory on February 1, 2025.
 
For the third time in postseason play, Queens will match up against Molloy as they look to advance to the Semi-Final game. The last two postseason meetings have come with the Knights as the visitors on the scoreboard during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 seasons in Rockville Centre.
 
The Lions emerged victorious on both occasions earning a 72-62 victory on March 5, 2013, and a 69-58 victory on March 5, 2014.
 
11 years later both sides will once again meet each other but this time the Knights will host the First Round game in Flushing.

Scouting Queens College

Queens enters postseason play having concluded the regular season with an overall record of 12-16 and 8-8 in ECC play.
 
Queens is in search of their third title in program history and first in 20 years when they defeated Thomas Jefferson University (formerly Philadelphia University) to the final score of 82-74.
 
As a team, the Knights are averaging 70.3 points on 39.7 % shooting with 36.8 rebounds, 11.9 assists, 7.7 steals and 5.4 blocks per game.
 
It has been equal sharing of the ball with three Knights averaging double-digit scoring led by senior guard Nasan Ayala (LeFrak City, N.Y.) averaging 12.8 points per game, Lindo averaging 12.1 points per game and Chester recording 11.8 points per game.
 
All three Knights have combined for over 3,000 points in their collegiate career with Chester the lone four-year Knight to achieve the mark in Flushing as he enters Wednesday's contest having scored 1,159 points in 105 games played.

Scouting Molloy University

The Lions concluded the regular season with an overall record of 10-17 and 6-10 in conference play. Molloy clinched the sixth seed on the final day of the regular season with a victory over District of Columbia earning a three-team tiebreaker over D'Youville University and Mercy University having compiled a record of 3-1 among the three teams. The Lions are making their eighth postseason appearance in the last nine seasons.
 
As a team, they are averaging 80.2 points on 45.0% shooting to go with 39.4 rebounds, 14.0 assists, 5.0 steals and 4.2 blocks per game.
 
They are led by sophomore Rob Matos who is averaging 24.3 points per game, sophomore Bryce Merchant averaging 17.5 points per game, and junior Payton Shumpert averaging 13.4 points per game.

A Victory on Wednesday:

A win over the Lions will give the Knights their first postseason victory since the 2010-11 season when they defeated Dowling College 77-68 to advance to the Semi-Final game.
 
If Queens defeat Molloy on Wednesday, the Knights will match up against the five-time defending champions Spartans who earned a series sweep over Queens this regular season for a spot in the Championship game. 

For the latest news on Queens College Athletics, follow the Knights at queensknights.com or via social media on Facebook (Queens College Athletics), X (Formerly Twitter) (@QCKnights), Queens College MBB (@QCKnights_MBB) and Instagram (qcknightsny), men's basketball (qcmensbball).