Courtesy Bridgewater State Sports Information

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The NCAA Division III Tournament pairings have been announced and the Bridgewater State College men's basketball team will host a first round game versus UMaine Farmington on Thursday night at 7 PM in the Tinsley Center.

The winner will travel to Williams College for a second round game against the nationally ranked Ephs (26-1). Williams, who is ranked second in the D3hoops.com poll, was one of three teams to receive a first round bye.  

Bridgewater State (19-7) will be making the programs second straight and fifth overall appearance in the national tournament.  The previous four appearances came in 1983, 1999, 2006 and 2009.  Last year's squad made it all the way to the Sweet Sixteen after an opening round win at home over St. Joseph's College of Maine and a dramatic upset victory at Middlebury College in the second round.

The Bears earned the automatic qualifier to the NCAAs by winning the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Tournament championship on Saturday with a 74-70 overtime victory over Framingham State College.  Bridgewater State was also the MASCAC regular season champion as they posted an 11-1 mark in conference play.

The BSC men's basketball team is under the watchful eye of 18-year head coach, Joe Farroba.  The three-time (1998, 2009, 2010) MASCAC Coach of the Year sports a career-coaching mark of 253-221 (.534) including a conference regular season record of 131-85 (.649).  Farroba's 253 wins are by far the most in BSC men's basketball history as he is the only Bridgewater coach to reach the 200-win milestone.  Four of the Bears' five NCAA Tournament appearance have come during his tenure. 

On the court, Bridgewater State is led by MASCAC Player of the Year, Nicholas Motta (Jr.; Fairhaven, Mass.) and fellow All-MASCAC selections Judah Jackson (Jr.; Everett, Mass.) and Matt McLaughlin (Sr.; Rochester, Mass.).

Motta heads into the NCAA Tournament with per game averages of 18.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.7 steals.  He leads the MASCAC in steals and ranks second in scoring, fourth in field goal percentage (.503), fifth in three-point percentage (.373), sixth in free throw shooting (.757), and ninth in rebounding and assists.  Motta, a five-time MASCAC Player of the Week in 2009-2010, has accumulated 936 points over his first three seasons in a BSC uniform.

Jackson is averaging 14.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game this season.  He is ranked sixth in the conference in steals and eighth in scoring and assists.  Earlier this season, Jackson became the 25th player in BSC men's basketball history to reach the 1,000-point milestone.  He is currently 21st all-time at Bridgewater State with 1,087 points in just three seasons.

McLaughlin, the MASCAC Tournament MVP, is averaging 8.4 points, 4.3 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game.  He currently leads the MASCAC in assist to turnover ratio (1.98) and ranks second in assists, steals and free throw shooting (.839), and ninth in field goal percentage (.459). 

UMaine Farmington heads into the NCAA Tournament with an overall record of 14-11.  The Beavers captured the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) championship as the top seed in the conference tournament with a 65-51 victory over Castleton State College in the title game.

Head Coach Dick Meader's (17th Year) UMaine Farmington squad has won five straight games and ten of their last 11.  The Beavers are led by junior forward Eric Taylor (Oakland, Maine) and seniors Eric Lelansky (Guard, Portland, Maine) and Josh Tanguay (Center, Gorham, Maine).  Taylor is scoring 16.3 points a game to go along with 8.2 rebounds, while Lelansky is averaging 13.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists.  Taylor, the NAC Tournament MVP, heads into the national tournament averaging 12.4 points and 9.2 boards.