Fresh off a thrilling victory in the MAC Commonwealth Championship Game, the Flying Dutchmen will compete in their first NCAA Tournament contest in more than a decade when they take on Middlebury on Friday evening.
 
Live Video
(Watch) The game will be streamed live and for free courtesy of Eastern Connecticut State.
 
Listen Live
(Listen) Fans can listen to the game on WMSS 91.1 FM, wmssfm.com, and the TuneIn App.
 
Live Stats
(Follow) Fans can keep up with all of the action in real time with live stats.
 
Going to the Game
(Directions) Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens. Children under two-years-old receive free admission. Friday's fee covers both games.
 
Last Time Out
(Recap) Lebanon Valley won its ninth conference championship and its first since 1995 thanks to a last-second, 70-68 victory at longtime rival Albright on Feb. 24. In doing so, the Flying Dutchmen earned an automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. Sam Light turned in one of the great postseason performances in program history in the win, scoring 35 points, including seven jumpers from beyond the arc, to go along with six rebounds and a pair of steals. He was named the game's MVP for his efforts. With LVC trailing 68-67 in the final moments, Caleb Barwin came away with an offensive rebound and found a wide-open Ricky Bugg on the left wing. With ice water in his veins, the senior guard coolly knocked down the biggest 3-pointer of his life to put the visitors back in front with less than 10 seconds to play. The Lions got one last look at a potential game-tying basket but DeJuan Smith couldn't get his layup to fall and Andy Orr grabbed the loose ball as the buzzer sounded, sending the Dutchmen faithful streaming onto the court at the Bollman Center as the frenzy of a thrilling championship victory came to fruition.


 
Two Decades In the Making
Lebanon Valley's 2018 MAC Commonwealth Championship is the team's first outright conference title since the 1995 season; Brad McAlester's first as head coach of the program. The Dutchmen were tops in the Commonwealth in 1999 but lost to Wilkes in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Final. Prior to Saturday's victory, LVC's most recent conference championship appearance came following the 2010-11 campaign.
 
Last Conference Title
For LVC, the program's last outright conference title prior to this season's accomplishment came back in 1995 following Brad McAlester's first season as head coach. Led by USA Today Division III National Player of the Year Mike Rhoades, the Dutchmen defeated Wilkes 61-56 to clinch the MAC Championship and finished the season with 23 wins. The team's season ended with a loss to Goucher in NCAA Tournament action that March.
 
Last NCAA Appearance
It's been 13 years since Lebanon Valley's most-recent appearance in the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. Led by National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) First-Team All-American J.D. Byers, the Dutchmen defeated Penn State Behrend 71-53 in a first-round matchup in the spring of 2005 before falling to undefeated St. John Fisher in second-round action. LVC finished the 2004-2005 season with 20 victories.
 
History In the Big Dance
Lebanon Valley is 7-5 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, with five of those victories coming down the stretch of the program's magical 1993-94 national championship-winning season. The Dutchmen won in overtime in both the Final Four and national championship rounds that spring, earning a heart-stopping 66-59 overtime victory against NYU in Buffalo, N.Y. in that year's national title game that the NCAA ranked as one of the Best Final Four Games You've Never Heard Of.


 
Strength of Schedule
According to D3hoops.com, Lebanon Valley played the toughest schedule among the region's top teams this season. In addition to twice defeating nationally-ranked Lycoming during the regular season, the Dutchmen also faced off against 2018 NCAA Tournament teams including Franklin & Marshall, Hamilton, Albright, and Staten Island. LVC went a combined 3-2 against teams in the tourney this winter.
 
Light, Orr Make History
Seniors Sam Light and Andy Orr are wrapping up two of the greatest careers in LVC history. Light recently became just the third player in program history to score 2,000 career points and he currently ranks second on Lebanon Valley's all-time scoring list with 2,083 tallies. He was also named the U.S. Basketball Writers of America (USBWA) Division III National Player of the Week in January. Orr recently moved into second place on the program's all-time rebounding list and he is the only player to ever score 1,900 career points and record 900 career rebounds at Lebanon Valley. This season alone, both players have earned MAC Commonwealth Player of the Week recognition on three occasions to go along with one D3hoops.com Team of the Week accolade apiece. Last week, they were each named to the MAC Commonwealth All-Conference First-Team for the third time in their careers.
 
Orr Named Jostens Trophy Finalist
(Story) Andy Orr has earned the prestigious honor of being selected by the Salem Rotary Club as one of 10 finalists for the 2018 Jostens Trophy. The Jostens Trophy is awarded to an outstanding NCAA Division III men's and women's basketball player who excels on the court, in the classroom, and in the community. This season marks the 21st presentation of the awards, with the inaugural trophies bestowed in 1998. Orr joins former standouts J.D. Byers '05 and Andy Panko '99 as the only LVC players to be named a finalist for the Jostens Trophy. Byers won the award in 2005 and Panko was a finalist in 1999. The award takes into account three vital parts: basketball ability, academic prowess, and community service. The trophy models the Rotary International motto of "Service Above Self" by recognizing those who truly fit the ideal of the well-rounded NCAA Division III student-athlete.
 
Light Tabbed POTW
(Story) Thanks to an historic performance in LVC's MAC Commonwealth Championship victory, Sam Light was named the conference's men's basketball player of the week for the third time. In one of the more memorable playoff performances in program history, the senior helped lead the Dutchmen to their ninth conference championship in team history. He netted a game-high 35 points on 11-of-18 shooting in Saturday's victory at longtime rival Albright, including finishing a stout 7-of-10 from 3-point territory to go along with six rebounds and a pair of steals. Light was named MAC Commonwealth Championship MVP for his efforts.
 
Middlebury Quick Glance
No. 18 Middlebury is the most tournament-tested team in the four-team regional, having earned a ninth NCAA Tournament bid in 11 years. The program has a 13-8 record all-time in the tourney, with one Final Four appearance on its resume. During that 2011 Final Four campaign, the Panthers won three games before dropping a two-point decision to eventual national champion St. Thomas in the national semifinal. This season, Middlebury had an 11-game winning streak halted thanks to three consecutive losses, dropping their final two regular-season games to Hamilton and Amherst before falling to Wesleyan in the first round of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship Tournament two weeks ago.
 
Old Friends
LVC head coach Brad McAlester and Middlebury head coach Jeff Brown will reunite when their respective squads take the floor on Friday evening. The pair served as assistants on the same Division I staff under former Manahattan head coach Gordon Chiesa in the early 1980s. Thanks to a memorable twist of fate, McAlester served as head coach for the first time in his career in 1983 due to an illness forcing Chiesa out of action and Brown being away on a recruiting trip.  


 
Who's Next?
A victory on Friday would earn the Dutchmen a second-round matchup against the winner of No. 10 Eastern Connecticut State and Johnson and Wales on Saturday night.
 
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