The Husson University men’s basketball team and the Maine Maritime Academy women’s team will each play for the North Atlantic Conference championship and an NCAA Division III Tournament berth Saturday afternoon.
The Husson men, 20-7 overall and the NAC East Division champion, will entertain West champ Vermont State University Johnson, 11-16, while the Maine Maritime women will travel to take on West winner SUNY Cobleskill in New York in a battle of 23-4 teams.
Both games begin at 1 p.m.
Coach Warren Caruso’s Eagles will be seeking their third NAC title in four years, while Craig Dagan’s Maine Maritime Mariners are gunning for their third in a row.
Caruso’s Eagles have overcome season-ending injuries to its third and fifth-leading scorers off last year’s team, Andre McCauley and Eric Ahlers, to earn another berth in the final.
“This team has been resilient,” Caruso said. “We’ve had some guys step up for us. And we’ve been a good defensive team all year.”
The Eagles will bring an eight-game winning streak into Saturday’s game and they have held opponents to 65.75 points per game during that stretch.
Their team defense will be tested by a high-scoring Johnson squad that has averaged 82.3 points per game in its last seven victories.
The Badgers have three players averaging more than 16.7 points per game in junior forward Jason Baker (21.9 points per game), senior forward Raymond Baka (19.9 ppg) and freshman guard Matthew Carter (16.8 ppg).
Baka was an All-NAC first team pick, Baker was a second team selection and Carter was the Rookie of the Year.
“We need to guard those three. They produce 75 percent of their offense,” Caruso said. “They have some really talented players.”
Baker, who joined the Badgers for the second semester, has also averaged 8.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists. Baka has corralled a team-high 11.4 rebounds per game to go with 2.4 assists and Carter has chipped in with 4.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists.
Husson has been led by senior guard, NAC Player of the Year and All-NAC first teamer Riles Neff (17.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 3.4 apg, 2 steals), All-NAC second team graduate student guard Jeremy Moronta (14.5 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.8 spg) and graduate student forward Scott Lewis (10.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.7 blocked shots), a third team pick.
Caruso and assistants John Clark, Justin Thompson and Mac Shea were named the league’s top coaching staff.
The Eagles beat the Badgers 91-80 in Bangor on Jan. 7 behind Neff’s game-high 30 points.
In the women’s final, it will be the league’s Player of the Year in SUNY Cobleskill senior center Logan Thayne against the Defensive Player of the Year in Maine Maritime Academy senior guard Erianna Moore.
Thayne, who stands 6-foot-3, was the Player of the Year last season, also.
Both were All-NAC first team picks along with SUNY Cobleskill senior guard Antonia May and Maine Maritime senior forward Sydney Briscoe.
SUNY Cobleskill senior guard Cara Walker and Maine Maritime junior guard Evelyn Dagan were second team picks and SUNY Cobleskill senior guard Taylor Meacham was a third-teamer.
Maine Maritime’s Dagan and his assistant, Mark Moran, earned coaching staff of the year honors.
Dagan’s Mariners have won 34 consecutive games against NAC opponents.
In addition to her defensive prowess, Moore leads her team in scoring (12.5 ppg) and assists (4.5) and she has also produced 6. 4 rebounds per outing. Briscoe is the team’s best rebounder (9.9) and second-leading scorer (11.9 ppg) and Dagan has provided 11.3 ppg to go with 2.2 rebounds.
For SUNY Cobleskill, Thayne has averaged 18.9 ppg,12.6 rpg and 1.9 blocks, all team-highs. May is second in scoring (14.4) and leads in steals (1.7). She has also grabbed 6.1 rebounds and dished out 2.8 assists. Walker is at 11.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg and 3.2 assists and Meacham has supplied 10.7 ppg, 2.9 apg, 5.6 rpg and 1.7 steals.
MMA rallied from seven points down after three periods to beat the Fighting Tigers 61-57 in Castine on Jan. 19. Maine Maritime shot 75 percent from the floor and 80 percent beyond the 3-point arc in the fourth quarter.
The teams met in the title game a year ago with Maine Maritime posting a 78-62 win behind Moore’s 24 points and seven rebounds.
