Courtesy Salem State Sports Information

Salem, MA -- Salem State University will face the Rhode Island College Anchormen in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament on Friday, March 2. The College of Staten Island (24-4), the first round host site, which won the CUNYAC Regular Season and Tournament Championship, will battle Ithaca (14-13), the Empire 8 Conference Tournament champions, in the other opening round match.

The Vikings are headed back to the NCAA Tournament after a three-year absence, as Salem State, the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season champions, won the MASCAC Tournament title 83-71 win over Bridgewater State on Saturday afternoon. The Anchormen finished the regular season with a 22-6 record and in a three-way tie for second place in the Little East Conference. The Anchormen fell to top-seeded Eastern Connecticut, 82-60 in the Little East Conference Championship.

The Vikings claimed their first conference championship in four years and have now won 20 regular season MASCAC conference titles, 16 league post-season crowns and have received 22 NCAA Tournament bids. Salem State, which reached the Sweet 16 in 2009, will be making their third NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Chris Harvey since 2008.

The NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Committee selected a field of 62 teams for the 2012 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship.

Forty-two conferences have been granted automatic qualification for the 2012 championship.  One independent team (Pool B) and 19 other at-large teams from the remaining independent teams and automatic-qualifying conferences who did not receive their conference automatic qualification (Pool C) were selected by using specific selection criteria approved by the Division III Championships Committee.

Two first-round games will be conducted Thursday, March 1, with the winners advancing to play Saturday, March 3, against teams that received first-round byes.  Fourteen sites will host four teams for first- and second-round competition Friday-Saturday, March 2-3. Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectional-round sites March 9-10. Winners of the four sectional games will advance to the finals March 16 and 17. All games, except the finals, will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. The finals will be conducted at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Virginia.