FLUSHING, N.Y. – The quest for their third East Coast Conference championship continues on Saturday, March 8 as the number 3 seed Queens College men's basketball team gets set for their first semifinal appearance since the 2010-2011 season.
Head coach
Matt Collier and the Knights will match up against five-time defending champions and number two seed St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans in Amherst, N.Y. inside Lumsden Gymnasium hosted by #1 seed and ECC Regular Season Champions Daemen University Wildcats.
How the Knights got to Championship Weekend
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 four 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.
Hosting their second ECC First Round game in four seasons on Wednesday, Mar. 5 the Knights would be led by senior guard and All-ECC Third Teamer
Shamar Chester (Queens, N.Y.) who tied a career-best 31 points in the victory, while the trio of Lindo, senior guard, and All-ECC Third Teamer
Nasan Ayala (LeFrak City, N.Y.) and junior guard
Eric Tynes (Springfield, MA.) combined for 51 points as the Knights erased an 11 point deficit in the second half to earn a 95-86 victory over number six seed Molloy University Lions in front of a packed home crowd inside Fitzgerald Gymnasium.
Series History
The Knights were swept in the regular season by the Spartans as the defending champions earned an 80-59 victory in Sparkill on January 18, before a late rally from Queens fell short on February 22 as STAC earned a 75-68 victory to complete the sweep.
A victory on Saturday would earn Queens their first victory over the Spartans for the first time since December 9, 2015, when the Knights earned a 69-64 in Sparkill. Also, It would end a 17-game losing streak versus the Spartans.
Saturday's game is the first-ever meeting between both sides in postseason play.
Scouting Queens College
Queens enters Saturday's game with an overall record of 13-16, matching the most wins in a single season since the 2016-2017 season.
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 71.1 points on 40.0 % shooting with 37.0 rebounds, 12.0 assists, 7.6 steals and 5.4 blocks per game.
Three Knights lead the team's offense with Ayala averaging 12.8 points per game, Lindo averaging 12.5 points per game and Chester recording 12.5 points per game.
All three Knights combine 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, 190 points in 106 games played.
Scouting St. Thomas Aquinas College
The Spartans concluded the regular season with an overall record of 22-8 and 13-3 in ECC play to earn the #2 seed and First Round bye.
As a team, they are averaging 86.2 points on 45.1% shooting to go with 42.4 rebounds, 14.7 assists, 10.9 steals and 3.5 blocks per game.
They are led by sophomore Shaun Arnold who earned ECC Defensive Player of the Year and All-ECC Second Team Honors. Arnold is averaging 11.5 points per game, graduate student and All-ECC First Team honors Hartnel Haye averaging 11.9 points per game and All-ECC Second Team honors senior Luis Risquez averaging 11.6 points per game.
A Victory on Saturday
A win over the Spartans will advance Queens to Championship Sunday and their first ECC Finals appearance since the 2005 title game and third overall in program history.
Queens has made two ECC finals in program history and have gone on to lift the title both times with the first coming in 2002 when Phil Lyons and the Knights defeated NYIT to the final score of 80-63. The second title would come in 2005 when John Sikiric and the Knights defeated Thomas Jefferson University to the final score of 82-74.
If Queens advances to Championship Sunday, they will either match up against ECC regular season champions and number one seed Daemen University Wildcats or number five seed College of Staten Island Dolphins.
The Wildcats enter Saturday's semifinal with an overall record of 25-0 and are the only Division II team in the country that remains undefeated and are ranked 1 in the NABC Coaches poll and 2 in the D2CSC Media poll.
The Dolphins enter Saturday with an overall record of 12-17 and defeated number 4 seed Roberts Wesleyan University 81-75 in Rochester on Wednesday evening.
During the regular season, the Knights were swept by the Wildcats with Daemen earning a 99-67 victory in Flushing on January 12 and a 91-67 victory on February 16 in Amherst.
While Queens swept the regular season over the Dolphins for the first time earning a 65-61 victory in Flushing on January 25 and a 77-75 victory in Staten Island on February 22.
Live Coverage
Each game of the championship will be broadcast live on the
ECC Sports Network. The games will also be available on the ECC Network app. Download the ECC Network app on any Apple or Android mobile device or on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, and Roku OTT streaming devices.
X updates will also be available throughout the tournament, at
@ECCSports. Tournament recaps, live stats, box scores, and all other pertinent tournament information will also be available on the
Championship Central page.
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).
