COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team was selected for its second NCAA Tournament in three years on Sunday night, and will face Bentley University in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division II East Regional Championship on Saturday at Daemen University's Lumsden Gymnasium in Amherst, N.Y. The Purple Knights were among 64 teams chosen for the national field.
 
Saint Michael's, which earned one of 41 at-large berths to the NCAA Tournament, split its regular-season series with Bentley, as each won on a road hardwood. The Purple Knights captured a 76-74 contest in Waltham, Mass., on Dec. 6 before losing a 94-83 decision in the Ross Sports Center on Jan. 27 after accumulating a 16-point lead early in the second half. The Purple and Gold leads the all-time postseason series, 3-2, dating back to a 99-91 NCAA Tournament win in Waltham on March 9, 1974, the night all-time leading scorer Fran Laffin '74 surpassed the 2,000-point plateau. The other four meetings were all in the Northeast 10 Conference Championship, with the programs last squaring off in a 2011 quarterfinal, won 67-54 by host Bentley. The Purple Knights' last win was in a 2001 semifinal, when they rallied from 14 down with less than seven minutes left for an 83-81 home victory.
 
Saturday will feature three other quarterfinal games: No. 1 Daemen, the nation's fourth-ranked team, hosting No. 8 Goldey-Beacom College, No. 2 Felician University opposing No. 7 Adelphi University, and No. 3 Saint Anselm College taking on No. 6 Assumption University. Winners meet in Sunday's semifinals before the regional titlist will be determined next Tuesday. Game times and ticket prices will be announced this week. The national quarterfinals and semifinals will occur on March 25 and 27, respectively, at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in Pittsburgh before the national champion is crowned on April 5 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind.
 
First-year Quintin Floyd (Windsor, Conn./Choate Rosemary Hall) helped the sixth-seeded Purple Knights begin NE10 Championship play by scoring 14 points in a 54-48 upset of No. 3 Pace University during the first round on Feb. 28. The Purple Knights then erased a late four-point deficit to force overtime on Wednesday en route to an 81-72 victory over No. 7 Southern New Hampshire University during a semifinal in the Ross Sports Center. Floyd scored 11 of his team-high 22 points in overtime, and sophomore Greg Kenney (Williston Park, N.Y./The Frederick Gunn School/LIU) netted 17.
 
Saint Michael's advanced to its fourth league tournament championship game, and first since 2001, on Saturday at top-seeded Saint Anselm, which was receiving votes toward last week's National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) national poll. After leading by eight points at halftime, the Purple Knights trimmed a 14-point deficit with five minutes to go down to four in the final seconds during a 75-69 loss. Kenney put together a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Floyd added 15 points.
 
Saint Michael's will make its 14th NCAA Tournament appearance, having gone 21-16 since debuting with the 1956-57 tournament. The Purple Knights won regional titles in 1958, 1959, 1960, 1965 and 1967, advancing as far as the national championship game in 1958. After previously not qualifying since 2001, the Purple and Gold has now been selected twice in the last three years, both times drawing an at-large bid. The Purple Knights garnered the No. 1 seed in 2024 and hosted the East Regional, advancing to the Sweet 16 before losing in the regional final.
 
Under seventh-year head coach Eric Eaton, the Purple Knights are 18-13 and face a 19-9 Bentley squad. Saint Michael's leads the NE10 in free throw percentage (79.6%) and made free throws per game (16.0) while taking third in three-pointers made per contest (8.3), fewest turnovers per game (11.8) and bench scoring (22.5). The Purple and Gold stands fifth nationally in free throw success rate.
 
An NE10 All-Conference third team selection and NE10 All-Rookie Team pick, Floyd leads the squad in scoring (12.7) and assists (3.0) from his point guard spot while adding 48 three-pointers and 41 steals, and senior Zocko Littleton (Albany, Ga./Osborne/Rider) notches 11.8 points, hit 59 triples, and is 49-for-51 on free throws. Kenney and junior Latiek Briscoe Jr. (Brooklyn, N.Y./Saint Francis Prep/Saint Edward's) turn in 10.6 and 10.5 points, respectively. Kenney leads the team in rebounding (6.0) and steals (55) while blocking 19 shots and shooting 84.3% on free throws, and Briscoe adds 4.6 rebounds, 49 assists and 37 steals. Briscoe returns to the NCAA Division II Tournament after playing at Saint Edward's (Texas) University last season.
 
Sophomore Raph Dumont (Quebec City, Quebec/Vanier College/Arkansas-Pine Bluff) averages 6.7 points on 85.0% free throw shooting in 12.9 minutes off the bench, and senior Nolan Marold (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Brewster Academy/Loyola Chicago), a 2024 NCAA East Regional Championship All-Championship Team pick, notches 6.1 points on 54.9% shooting with 3.9 boards and a team-high 24 blocks. First-year John Kelley (Plaistow, N.H./Kimball Union Academy) pulls 3.8 rebounds and shoots 54.3% as a reserve post, and sophomore Abdur-Rahman De Leon (Roxbury, Mass./Saint Thomas More School) shoots 40.0% from deep and nets 5.0 points off the bench.