Collegeville, PA --- The WPI men's basketball team will face 2006 NCAA Division III national champion Virginia Wesleyan in a NCAA Tournament first round game tonight at 6pm at Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA.  The winner will take on the host Bears or Baptist Bible in a second round contest on Saturday evening at 7pm.     

For more information on the weekend, please visit the Ursinus College Tournament Website.  D3Hoops.com will provide a national audio webcast with Gordon Mann behind the microphone.  You can also follow along with live stats provided by the Ursinus Sports Information office.        

WPI, under the tutelage of seventh-year head coach Chris Bartley, brought home its fifth straight NEWMAC regular season crown by posting an 11-1 mark in conference play, four games ahead of its closest rival.  The Crimson and Gray reached the championship game on the NEWMAC Tournament before falling Sunday afternoon to Coast Guard. 

The Engineers are 21-6 on the season, and have won nine of their last 10 games.  WPI will be making its fourth straight NCAA appearance.

Forced with having to replace two-time conference Player of the Year and 2007 Josten's Award winner (top Division III men's basketball student-athlete) Ryan Cain, the Crimson and Gray sported a balanced attack this season featuring three players averaging between 12.9 and 14.2 points. 

Senior forward Antoine Coleman (Everett, MA) led the team in scoring and rebounding en route to being named NEWMAC Player of the Year.  Classmate Jim Marois (Worcester, MA) averaged 13.7 points while connecting on 82.9% of his free throws. The third piece of the three-headed attack is junior guard Jerome Kirkland (Boston, MA) who anchored the Engineers defensive effort with a team-best 49 steals to go along with 12.9 points per game.    

The trio of Coleman, Marois and fellow senior Ryan Bourque (Nashua, NH) enter tournament play with an eye-popping 90-18 (.833) mark over their four years at WPI.   

Virginia Wesleyan (22-6) has appeared in the last two NCAA national championship games.  The Marlins won the title in 2006 before falling to Amherst in last year's title tilt.  Host Ursinus (25-2) enters the tournament on a 19-game winning streak while Baptist Bible (18-8) will be making its first NCAA appearance after winning the North Eastern Athletic Conference tournament.   

Official Ursinus College Tournament Website

Live Audio from D3Hoops.com (third game down)

Live Stats from Ursinus Sports Information

Bracket from D3Hoops.com

Watch the WPI Reaction to Receiving Bid

Watch the Selection Webcast