Ravens top seed in East Regional; making first appearance in NCAA Tournament since 1996

Eric Jean-Guillaume was named the 2012 NE-10 Player of the Year.

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RINDGE, N.H. (March 4, 2012) -- Franklin Pierce University and its men's basketball program are proud to announce that they will be hosting the 2012 NCAA Division II East Regional Tournament, March 10-13, at Andrew Laska Gymnasium in Worcester, Mass. The announcement was made Sunday night on the NCAA Division II Selection Show at www.ncaa.com(.)

The Ravens (21-7), who claimed the 2012 Northeast-10 Conference regular season championship and advanced to the league's semifinals, will face Philadelphia University in the first round on Saturday at 6 p.m. Franklin Pierce is the No. 1 seed in the regional for the first time in program history, while Philadelphia (19-9) is the eighth seed. The Rams earned an at-large bid after advancing to the semifinals of the CACC tournament before falling to Bloomfield 72-63.

Saturday's other first round games will begin at 12 p.m. with third-seeded Adelphi taking on sixth-seeded C.W. Post. The day's second game will tip at 2:30 p.m. when No. 2 seed Stonehill battles No. 7 seed District of Columbia. Following the FPU-Philadelphia game, the day's action will conclude with an 8:30 p.m. tip between fourth-seeded UMass-Lowell and fifth-seeded Bloomfield.

The second round of the regional will be held on Sunday with the first game starting at 5 p.m. and the second game following at 7:30 p.m. A Franklin Pierce first round win on Saturday would guarantee the Ravens the 7:30 start on Sunday.

The regional will conclude with the championship game on Tuesday at 7 p.m. All seven games of the regional will be held in Laska Gymnasium on the campus of Assumption College. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children, seniors and college students who present a valid University ID. Saturday's first round will be conducted in two sessions with separate admission for each one.

Franklin Pierce, which is making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1996, had an outstanding 2011-12 regular season. In addition to winning the league's regular season crown, the Ravens were ranked No. 1 in every edition of the NCAA East Region Poll, marking the first time in program history they were ranked at the top of regional standings. Franklin Pierce is also ranked No. 24 in the NABC Division II national top-25 poll as it's the first national ranking for the program since joining the NE-10 prior to the 2000-01 season. 

The Ravens were led by a trio of standouts who were honored by the NE-10 following the regular season, including junior guard Eric Jean-Guillaume (Stamford, Conn.), who was named the league's player of the year and was placed on the All-NE-10 First-Team. Jean-Guillaume is averaging 14.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game and leads the NE-10 in three-point field goal percentage (47.2%), while also ranking second in steals (64) and third in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2). Sophomore forward Ellis Cooper (Northampton, Mass.) was also named to the All-NE-10 First-Team and is averaging 14.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. He leads the conference with 67 steals and ranks ninth in rebounding and 10th in scoring. Freshman forward Ryen Vilmont (Philadelphia, Pa.) was named to the NE-10 All-Rookie Team and is averaging 10.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. 

The winner of the East Regional will advance to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight, which will be held March 21-14 in Highland Heights, Ky. Northern Kentucky University will serve as the host institution for the Elite Eight as Highland Heights is located just seven miles southeast of Cincinnati, Ohio.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men's basketball and the 2012 East Regional, please visit the team's page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow Franklin Pierce Athletics even further, please visit the department on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens).

COMPETING TEAMS IN 2012 NCAA DIVISION II EAST REGIONAL
1-Seed ... Franklin Pierce University (21-7) ... Northeast-10 (at-large bid)
2-Seed ... Stonehill College (21-8) ... Northeast-10 champion (automatic bid)
3-Seed ... Adelphi University (20-8) ... Northeast-10 (at-large bid)
4-Seed ... UMass-Lowell (19-10) ... Northeast-10 (at-large bid)
5-Seed ... Bloomfield College (24-7) ... CACC champion (automatic bid)
6-Seed ... C.W. Post (23-5) ... ECC champion (automatic bid)
7-Seed ... University of District of Columbia (22-5) ... ECC (at-large bid)
8-Seed ... Philadelphia University (19-9) ... CACC (at-large bid)

MATCHUPS & TIMES FOR 2012 NCAA DIVISION II EAST REGIONAL
Saturday, March 10 (First Round)
Session I
Game 1: #3 Adelphi vs. #6 C.W. Post (12 p.m.)
Game 2: #2 Stonehill vs. #7 District of Columbia (2:30 p.m.)

Session II
Game 3: #1 Franklin Pierce vs. #8 Philadelphia (6 p.m.)
Game 4: #4 UMass-Lowell vs. #5 Bloomfield (8:30 p.m.)

Sunday, March 11 (Second Round)
Game 5: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner (5 p.m.)
Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner (7:30 p.m.)

Tuesday, March 13 (Regional Final)
Game 7: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner (7 p.m.)