MEN'S BASKETBALL NCAA NOTEBOOK: Ellis Cooper Goes Over 1,000 Points; Ravens Face New Haven in 2nd Round
Ravens 3-2 all-time in the NCAA Tournament against current NE-10 foes
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Ryen Vilmont logged 17 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and a steal in Saturday's first round win over Bloomfield. |
MANCHESTER, N.H. (March 17, 2013) – The Franklin Pierce University men’s basketball team will continue its quest for a regional championship Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. when the No. 1 seeded Ravens take on fifth-seeded New Haven in the second round of the 2013 NCAA Division II Tournament East Regional at the SNHU Fieldhouse in Manchester.
The Ravens (22-8) advanced to Sunday with a 90-78 win over eighth-seeded Bloomfield in Saturday’s first round. The win also avenged last season’s NCAA second round loss to the Deacons, which denied Franklin Pierce a spot in the regional championship.
New Haven advanced to the second round via a 73-66 come-from-behind win over fourth-seeded Dominican (N.Y.) in the nightcap of the regional’s first day.
Franklin Pierce and New Haven met earlier this season with the Chargers pulling out a 53-50 triumph in Rindge back on Jan. 15.
Franklin Pierce fans that cannot attend Sunday’s game can watch it online for free at athletics.franklinpierce.edu by clicking on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Central banner at the top of the homepage.
ELLIS COOPER TOPS 1,000 CAREER POINTS
Lost in all the excitement of Saturday’s win was junior forward Ellis Cooper (Northampton, Mass.) going over 1,000 points for his amazing career. Cooper, who came into the game needing just 10 points to reach the plateau, tossed in a game-high 21 points on a 73-percent shooting clip to spark the Ravens to victory.
Cooper is the 31st player in program history to reach the milestone and he currently stands in 30th place with 1,011 points. He is 248 points shy of moving into the top-20 in program history for career scoring and is 485 shy of breaking into the top-10.
With one more year of eligibility remaining, those marks are well within Cooper’s reach has he has scored 450 and 430 points, respectively, over the last two seasons.
RAVENS 3-2 VS. NE-10 FOES IN NCAA TOURNAMENT
Franklin Pierce is 3-2 all-time in the NCAA Tournament against current members of the Northeast-10 Conference. The Ravens have won games against Merrimack (1991), Bentley (1993) and Le Moyne (1996), while dropping games to Southern New Hampshire in 1993 (known as New Hampshire College at the time) and Saint Anselm in 1996.
For more information on Franklin Pierce men’s basketball, please visit the team’s page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce men’s basketball apparel can do so on the athletic department’s online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)