NCAA Bracket

INDIANAPOLIS | The National Collegiate Athletic Association announced the 64-team field for its 2024 men's basketball championship Monday afternoon, and Farmingdale State College – winners of the Skyline Conference for the second year in a row – will travel to Hampden-Sydney, Va., to face Stevens Institute of Technology in first-round action on Friday at 4:30 p.m.

Top-ranked Hampden-Sydney College plays host to La Roche (Pa.) in the other first-round match-up at Kirby Field House on Friday night at 7, with the two winners facing off in second-round action Saturday at 7 p.m. Further information on ticketing for the weekend will be available on FarmingdaleSports.com on Tuesday morning. 

Head coach Brendan Twomey's Rams (26-2) ran through the Skyline Conference Championship last week for the second year in a row and fourth time in the last seven full seasons of play, defeating Yeshiva University in Sunday's championship final by an 87-68 score. Senior guard Corey Powell – one of three 1,000 career points scorers on the FSC team – was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tourney after scoring 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting to go with six rebounds and four assists against the Maccabees. Senior swingman Nick Hurowitz added 15 points and 14 boards, while freshman post Kentrell Evans chipped in with 15 points (7-of-9 FG), eight caroms and three blocked shots.

Head coach Bobby Hurley's Stevens side (22-5), which was receiving votes in the most-recent D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, enters championship play after winning its second MAC Freedom title in the last three seasons on Saturday, as the Ducks outlasted DeSales University, 54-53. Freshman Tommy Scholl was named the tournament's most valuable player after scoring a career-high 16 points off the bench, including a 4-for-4 effort from 3-point range. Stephen Braunstein averages 17.1 points per game for Stevens, and is 83 of 195 from beyond the arc, while Jack Spellman averages a double-double (12.5 ppg, 10.6 rpg) and has blocked 108 shots on the defensive end of the floor.

The two teams have previously met five times between 2004-07 when Stevens was also a member of the Skyline Conference, with FSC owning a 3-2 advantage in the series.

This marks Farmingdale State's eighth appearance in the tourney, including last year's first-round match-up in Hampden-Sydney against eventual national champion Christopher Newport (Va.) University. The Rams are 5-7 overall in NCAA play, including a quarterfinals appearance in 2009 and second-round stints both in 2006 and 2012.

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