Bears & Lady Bears Basketball Vie for Hudson Valley Championships

NEW ROCHELLE, NY – The men's and women's basketball teams both prevailed in their semifinal games and will play for the conference titles today in the HVMAC & HVWAC 2011 Basketball Tournament at the College of New Rochelle.  The Bears face Berkeley at 2 pm with the Lady Bears facing Albany Pharmacy at 4 pm.

In the men's semifinal against Vaughn, a rematch of last year's title game, the Bears led by as many as 10 points, but needed to comeback from an eight point deficit midway through the second half, holding Vaughn scoreless over the final 5:28 for the 73-61 victory.  The Bears will seek their third championship against rivals Berkeley College, who the Bears fell to 70-69 in the regular season, This will be the fifth time the two squads will face for the title, meeting from 2006 through 2009 with Berkeley holding a 3-1 edge in those games.

In the women's semifinal, the Lady Bears easily made it past Berkeley, jumping out to a 10 point lead early in the game and never looking back, setting up a rematch of last year's championship against Albany Pharmacy, which the Lady Bears won, 56-53.  In this meeting, the Lady Bears will enter as underdogs as St. Joseph's looks to avenge their worst loss of the season, which occurred just two weeks ago, where the Lady Bears shot a season-worst 22 percent en route to the 43 point loss.   

2011 HVMAC Basketball Tournament Schedule

Semifinals – Saturday, February 19
2 pm: #1 Berkeley def. #4 Albany Pharmacy, 91-81
4 pm: #3 St. Joseph's def. #2 Vaughn, 73-61

Championship – Sunday, February 20
2 pm: #1 Berkeley vs. #3 St. Joseph's

2011 HVWAC Basketball Tournament Schedule

Quarterfinals – Thursday, February 17
8 pm: #4 Yeshiva def. #5 New Rochelle, 68-34

Semifinals – Saturday, February 19
6 pm: #2 St. Joseph's def. #3 Berkeley, 61-35
8 pm: #1 Albany Pharmacy def. #4 Yeshiva, 80-42

Championship – Sunday, February 20
4 pm: #1 Albany Pharmacy vs. #2 St. Joseph's