February 26, 2007

Grove City accepts invite to ECAC Tournament

GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's basketball team has accepted an invitation to the 2007 Eastern College Athletic Conference Southern Championship Tournament. Grove City (16-12) is the No. 8 seed in the 8-team tournament and will visit top-seeded Penn State Behrend (19-8) Wednesday night at 8 p.m.

Grove City captured the Presidents' Athletic Conference championship Saturday night with a 60-58 victory over host Washington & Jefferson in the PAC Championship Tournament title game. Behrend, meanwhile, earned runner-up honors in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference. The Lions fell to No. 1 seed Lake Erie in the AMCC Tournament finals Saturday, 59-58, in Painesville, Ohio.

This is Grove City's first trip to the ECAC Southern Tournament since the 2003 season. Overall, it is the Wolverines' sixth all-time trip to the ECAC Tournament. Grove City also qualified for the ECAC Tournament in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1999. In 1999, Penn State Behrend defeated Grove City in the ECAC quarterfinals, 64-44, at Erie Hall.

Overall, it is Grove City's 10th all-time postseason appearance since joining the NCAA in 1956. The Wolverines participated in the NCAA Tournament in 1976, 1979, 1983 and 1989.

Grove City leads the all-time series against 27-20. The teams last met Nov. 23, 2004, with Grove City pulling out a 62-58 home win over the Lions.

The winner of the Grove City-Penn State Behrend game will play the winner of the Juniata-Bethany quarterfinal. Juniata is the No. 4 seed and will host fifth-seeded Bethany at 7 p.m. Wednesday night. The other ECAC quarterfinals pit No. 2 DeSales against visiting No. 7 seed Gwynedd-Mercy and No. 6 Carnegie Mellon at No. 3 Lebanon Valley.

The semifinals will be held Friday night at the home court of the highest remaining seed. The championship game is scheduled for Saturday.

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