There are a handful of mid-major conference tournament title games around the country Wednesday. We will focus on the 7 ET Patriot League final – one of a few events where all games are held on campus at the better seed – because it’s shown on CBS Sports Network, with No. 4 seed Boston University visiting No. 2 Lehigh for the automatic bid to the Big Dance.
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Navy was the heavy Patriot League Tournament favorite after losing just one regular-season league game, but the Midshipmen had a 14-game winning streak snapped Sunday in a 73-72 home loss to Boston U as a 6.5-point favorite. Tied at 70 with 8.4 seconds left, Navy took five seconds to go the length of the court for the go-ahead layup.
On the ensuing inbounds play, Terriers freshman Chance Gladden took the pass from Donte Tisinger Jr. and raced to midcourt, created some space with a behind-the-back dribble and swished a 40-footer for the win. Gladden scored BU’s final 10 points and tallied 24 of his team-high 26 overall in the second half. Gladden, a third-team All-Patriot League pick and first-team All-Rookie, also hit the winning step-back jumper in the closing seconds of the quarterfinal round to beat American, the defending event champion.
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BU (17-16, 18-14 ATS) reached its first Patriot League title game by shooting 11-for-24 (.458) from deep – it is among the national leaders in 3-point shooting — and 26-for-47 (.553) from the field overall for the highest shooting percentage of the season recorded by an opponent against Navy. It entered holding opponents to just 29.4 percent from behind the arc. The 14-game winning streak was the second-longest nationally.
The Middies had the Patriot League Player of the Year in Austin Benigni and Defensive Player of the Year in Aidan Kehoe, so it was a stunner. Navy was seeking its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1998, several years before anybody on the current team was born. Now it will have to hope for an NIT invite. Boston U hasn’t been to the Big Dance since 2011, when it played in the America East. BU won 2020 PL tournament, but there was no national championships because of the pandemic.
Lehigh (17-16, 18-13 ATS) earned the Patriot’s No. 2 seed by winning a tiebreaker with Colgate. The Mountain Hawks beat the Raiders, 76-69, in the semifinals behind a career-high 30 points from sophomore Hank Alvey. Lehigh is in its first conference tournament title game since 2024 but hasn’t been dancing since 2012. That club, led by C.J. McCollum, memorably knocked off No. 2 Duke in the Round of 64 behind 30 points and six assists from McCollum.
This is the 36th Patriot League Tournament title game and first time featuring the No. 2 seed against the No. 4. The only fourth seed to win this event was Lafeyette in 2015 and just three teams lower than the No. 2 have won the conference title, last No. 3 Boston U in 2020. The Terriers are 1-1 all-time in this game and the Mountain Hawks are 3-3, dropping their past three.
The SportsLine Projection Model gives BU a 51.1% shot of winning the game, and CBS Sports bracketology has Boston U in the NCAA Tournament’s First Four as a No. 16 seed and facing fellow No. 16 Bethune-Cookman in the Midwest Region. Coach Joe Jones, age 60, seeks his first trip to the NCAA Tournament in his 22nd season as a collegiate head coach.
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Lehigh won both regular-season meetings,but by only a combined five points and one in OT. Mountain Hawks junior guard Nasir Whitlock dominated in those two games, averaging 30.0 points on 58.3% from the field along with 4.0 assists. Whitlock banked in a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left in regulation to force the overtime.
The Mountain Hawks have played a whopping seven OT games this season (3-4), most in Division I. They have also played 23 games decided by single digits (14-9), second-most nationally. BU has won nine of 10 with that only loss at Lehigh on Feb. 22. The Terriers are shooting 54.7% from the floor in the past six games.
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The lone reason Lehigh, which has won a season-high five in a row, even reached the semis of this tournament was thanks to a half-court buzzer-beater by Whitlock to stun Holy Cross in the quarters. He is averaging 25.8 PPG during the winning streak and is tied for the D-I lead with eight 30-point games on the year.
The average margin of victory in the tournament’s eight games has been 4.8 points, with five decided by five points or fewer. I like the Mountain Hawks simply as they are 12-4 SU at home (9-4-1 ATS) and Boston U is 6-11 away. Plus, Whitlock is on fire. The SportsLine Projection Model has the Terriers 76-75. They have split five previous meetings in the PL Tournament.
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