Men's Basketball

FINAL FOUR BOUND!! Trinity & Wesleyan Book Tickets to Fort Wayne in NCAA Men's Basketball Championship

Trinity and Wesleyan have booked a spot in the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Final Four. The Bantams return to the Final Four for the second year in a row after an 86-63 victory over Catholic. The Cardinals are making their first-ever appearance in the Final Four following a 61-58 overtime win against Emory.
 
Trinity and Wesleyan will square off for the third time this season in one semifinal on March 20 at 5:30 p.m. at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The other semifinal features UAA foes WashU versus NYU at 8:00 p.m.
 
The 2025 Final Four marks the fourth time two NESCAC men's basketball teams have advanced to the final four in the same year (2004, 2011, 2014). It is also the third time two NESCAC teams will play each other in a national semifinal. The previous two all-NESCAC semifinal matchups were in 2004 and 2014, when Amherst and Williams played each other.

The teams are 1-1 against each other in the 2025 campaign. The Cardinals won the regular-season matchup, 72-63, at Trinity on January 25 while the Bantams claimed their second straight NESCAC title with a 75-67 win at Wesleyan on March 2
 
Trinity (28-3) def. Catholic (25-6), 86-63 | Box Score
  • Henry Vetter led four Bantams in double figures with a game-high 21 points, a team-high four assists, and three rebounds. Jarrel Okorougo netted 17 points with six rebounds, and Drew Lazarre logged his fourth double-double of the season with 15 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
  • Catholic’s Sean Neylon scored six points in the opening six minutes to help Catholic race out to a 17-5 lead. Trinity responded with a 15-0 run to take a 20-17 lead with 8:35 left in the first half.
  • Catholic evened the score at 23-23, but Trinity regained the lead, 38-34, at the half.
  • Trinity extended its lead to 57-43 to open the second half and used a decisive 12-6 run to hold a 69-49 advantage with 7:22 left and eased to the victory.
  • Trinity shot 51.6 percent from the floor while holding Catholic to 31.2 percent shooting.
Wesleyan (30-1) def. Emory (23-6), 61-58 (OT) | Box Score
  • Nicky Johnson poured in 24 points and collected five steals and Shane Regan added 18 points to lead Wesleyan to its 30th win of the year and a spot in the Final Four.
  • Wesleyan led by 12 with 7:14 remaining in regulation, but Emory cut the deficit to a one-possession game with three minutes left.
  • The Cardinals held a three-point lead in the final minute when the Eagles converted a three-point play to tie the score and force overtime.
  • Emory took its first lead of the game on its first possession of overtime, but Johnson’s fourth 3-pointer of the game shoved Wesleyan back in front.
  • Both defenses took over as neither side scored on nine straight possessions. Forced to foul in the closing seconds and Wesleyan clinging to a lead, Emory sent Johnson to the foul line with 1.6 seconds left where he made both attempts to give Wesleyan a three-point advantage.
  • Following an Emory timeout the Eagles threw the inbounds pass nearly the length of the court in front of their bench and were able to call a timeout with 0.8 seconds showing on the clock. Emory’s last-ditch shot fell off the front of the rim to cap a thrilling quarterfinal.