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Tickets for this weekend’s games will be available at the door and will be available for single-day or all-tournament prices. Admission for adults will be $6 for a single-day ticket and $8 for an all-tourney pass, while students and senior citizens will be admitted for $4 for a single day and $6 for the all-tourney pass. Students and faculty from HCAC schools will be admitted at no charge with the presentation of a college I.D. at the door.
DC’s SAAC will be sponsoring a ‘Purple Haze’ promotion for this weekend’s action. DC fans are encouraged to wear purple and the first 200 people wearing a purple shirt that go to the concession stand will get a free cup of popcorn.
Fans not being able to attend the games will have numerous options to follow the action. The HCAC and Penn Atlantic will be providing a free webcast (available to those with a high speed internet connection), while live stats and free online radio broadcasts will also be easily accessible by using the links on the DC men’s basketball website.
Defiance (18-7, 13-3 HCAC) will enter as the favorite after leading the conference race from start to finish and finishing a full three games ahead of the next closest competitor. That spread marked the widest gap between first and second in the league standings since 2003-04. The Yellow Jackets were 5-1 against the HCAC tournament field and their 18 regular season victories are their highest total since the 2001-02 campaign. DC is led by the one-two punch of C.J. Johnson and Anthony Pettaway. In 16 conference games, Johnson leads the HCAC with 17.0 points a night, while Pettaway ranks third with 16.2. Pettaway has also been DC’s leading scorer and rebounder in his last seven outings heading into the tournament.
Franklin (16-9, 10-6 HCAC) backed up its 2006-07 HCAC regular season crown with a second-place finish this year and the first-round bye. The Grizzlies return an extremely experienced core to the tournament and will not be intimidated by the hostile environment. Franklin will enter play as one of the hottest teams in the league with six wins in its last seven contests and a 6-2 record in road HCAC games. The Grizzlies split the season series with DC and Transylvania, while sweeping Anderson. FC is one of the top three-point shooting teams in the league and hit at a 40.2-percent clip from beyond the arc. Three players have connected on 40-or-more treys, while Marty Young provides the inside threat with 15.8 points a night in HCAC games.
Transylvania (16-10, 10-6 HCAC) finished third in the league standings and advanced into the HCAC Semifinals after handling No. 6 seed Rose-Hulman on Tuesday by a 66-50 score. The Pioneers bring plenty of experience to the table, as the two-time defending HCAC tournament champions. TU posted a 2-4 record in six games against teams remaining in the tourney, suffering a sweep to top-seeded Defiance and splitting its games against FC and Anderson. Despite losing three of its last four road clashes, Transylvania has plenty of firepower to make a run at its third-straight trip to the NCAA’s. The Pioneers top the HCAC with 137 made threes and are led by sharpshooting Matthew Parton’s 11.4 points a night in league action.
Anderson (15-11, 10-6 HCAC) has been playing outstanding basketball of late and has won eight of its last nine, including a 65-52 victory against Hanover on Tuesday night. The win catapulted the Ravens in the HCAC Semifinals where they will try to become the second No. 4 seed in as many years to advance to the Finals, after Defiance accomplished the feat last season. AU is only 6-7 away from its home court, but won five of eight road games in HCAC play and will look to counter its 1-5 mark against the tournament field by turning to one of the most explosive scoring tandems in the league. Mike Russell and Ryan Fultz rank among the top 12 scorers in HCAC play and have combined for 28.7 points a night.
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