SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (February 5, 2019) – The SUNY Delhi men's basketball team received a bid for late February's ACAA Tournament at Alfred State, as announced by the conference on Tuesday. The Broncos, currently 12-9, have earned the second seed, and will play third-seed Pine Manor in the league semifinals on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 7:00 p.m.
The winner of the semifinals game will advance to the conference championship, set for Sunday, Feb. 24 at 2:30 p.m. They will face the winner of the other semifinals game between fourth-seed Alfred State and top-seed Thomas More, which will be played that Saturday at 5:00 p.m.
"We've been playing a lot better since the winter break and we're looking forward to the ACAA Tournament and hope to continue playing well," said head coach Zack Thomsen. "Pine Manor has good size and athleticism and we'll need to do a great job defensively and on the boards in order to beat them."
The men, who once stood at 5-8 halfway through the season, are winners of seven of their last eight games dating back to New Year's Eve. They have also won eight straight home games for an 8-1 record in Floyd L. Maines Arena. The Broncos have won their last three games, which included home victories over Green Mountain and ACAA-foe Alfred State, and most recently a conference road win at Valley Forge on Saturday. Delhi's remaining slate includes Cazenovia (Feb. 6), back-to-back ACAA road games at Pratt (Feb. 8) and Alfred State (Feb. 9), and finally College of St. Joseph (Feb. 16).
Many of Coach Thomsen's seasoned players have been the driving force behind the Broncos' success. That includes guards William Knight and Jordan Fragale, who are the team's two leading scorers at 13.2 ppg. and 13.0 ppg., respectively. Forward Payton Dean is close to averaging a double-double with 11.7 ppg. and a team-best 9.6 rpg., totaling seven double-doubles on the year. They have also worked their way into the awards category, with Fragale, Knight and fellow guard Carlos Ithier having been named ACAA Athlete of the Week.
Thomsen's newcomers are just as deserving in the credit for the team's success. Junior transfer Justin Daoud ranks second on the squad with 6.7 rpg. and third with 11.8 ppg. Freshman Mavenson Therneus leads the newcomers with 12 starts and has played in all 21 games, averaging 8.8 ppg. and 4.1 rpg. He ranks third on Delhi with a 48.3 field goal percentage (71-for-147). Freshman Norman Wilson has started seven games, averaging 6.9 ppg. in 19 games played, while Jared Beach has started three games, racking up 4.2 pgg. and 2.4 rpg. through 16 games played.