Wesleyan to host Trinity in NESCAC

The 24th-ranked Wesleyan University men’s basketball team earned the No. 4 seed in the NESCAC Championships and will host in-state rival and fifth-seeded Trinity College Saturday at 3 p.m.

The Cardinals are hosting their first conference tournament game since 2012 after posting a 6-4 league mark during regular season play. Admission for the game will be free to all fans.

Both teams finished the regular season with a 6-4 NESCAC record, but Wesleyan earned the tiebreaker by defeating the Bantams 65-61 at home on January 14th.

Wesleyan posted a 19-5 overall record during the regular season after winning its first 11 games of the year.

The 19 victories matched the highest regular season win total in program history, while the 11-straight wins to open the campaign were the best start to a season since 1911-12.

The Cardinals ranked as high as No. 9 in the country earlier this year – its first-ever top-10 ranking in the D3hoops.com Poll – and also defeated three top-10 teams this season, including Amherst twice, to claim the Little Three title outright for the first time since 1990-91.

Wesleyan enters Saturday’s game having won three straight and eight of its last 10 games, while Trinity is coming off a 9780 loss at Middlebury last Saturday and is just 2-3 in its last five. The Cardinals, two years removed from their first NESCAC Championship, are 6-9 overall in the conference tournament in 10 appearances. The Bantams have reached the postseason 14 times and are 13-13 overall, with one NESCAC title and two runner-up finishes.

Wesleyan averages 76.6 points per game and is 10-1 at home this season, while Trinity averages 72.4 points per game and is just 6-5 in away contests.

Girls basketball

EAST HAMPTON 66, CREED 28 >> Gyanna Russell scored 23 points and Sarah Vickery 10 points to lead East Hampton Wednesday.

Rebecca Doney, Allyson Tuxbury and Lindsay Orbann each scored six points for East Hampton, which improved to 18-2.