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READING, Pa. – The Albright men's basketball team opens the 2018 NCAA Tournament with a matchup against Springfield on Friday. The neutral site game will be held at Cabrini at 5:30 p.m. Cabrini will host Staten Island in the second game of the night at 7:30 p.m.

Albright and Springfield are two of the 21 teams that received at-large bids to this year's tournament, and this matchup was the final one announced during Monday's NCAA Selection Show, leaving both teams dangling on the bubble until the last possible moment.

That isn't to suggest that either team isn't deserving of a bid. In fact, both have accomplished resumes that helped solidify a selection. Albright defeated a pair of ranked opponents this season and came within seconds of winning the MAC Commonwealth Championship in the tournament final. Springfield won its conference's regular season title, finishing with a 12-2 record in the NEWMAC and an 18-8 record overall.

Both teams feature their conference's respective players of the year. For Albright, DeJuan Smith earned MAC Commonwealth Player of the Year and a First Team All-MAC Commonwealth nod. Smith is 21 points away from becoming the 14^th player in school history to reach 1,500 points. Smith leads the Lions and is fifth in the MAC Commonwealth with a 16.9 points per game average. He's also third in the league in rebounding, pulling down 7.9 rebounds per game.

Springfield sophomore Jake Ross scores 24.3 points per game, 10^th best nationally, and he's also averaging 9.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 2.5 steals per game. That stat line helped Ross to NEWMAC Men's Basketball Athlete of the Year honors. He was also named NEWMAC Men's Basketball Co-Defensive Athlete of the Year. Ross's 663 points this season rank fifth in Springfield's history for a single year.

Albright returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010, and Springfield is making its first trip since 2015. The winner of both games will meet in the second round on Saturday at 7 p.m. That game will also take place at Cabrini.

Notes

• Brandon Lindsay's 77 three pointers this season are a new school record. Three players shared the old school record of 72. Lindsay also has 140 career three pointers, ranking sixth all-time.
• Jared Rappoport has 50 blocks this season, ranking fourth on the school's single-season list.
• The Lions rank 16^th nationally in field goal defense (39.7 percent) and 11^th nationally in three-point defense (30.3 percent). Albright leads the MAC Commonwealth in each category.
• Albright also leads the MAC Commonwealth in scoring offense (82.2 ppg) and rebounding (41.3 rpg).