Feb. 27, 2011

The postseason picture came into focus Saturday as the day's four contests wrapped up any lingering uncertainty about the seedings for the Patriot League Tournament. With victories by Navy, American, Bucknell and Lehigh, the exact placement of all eight teams is set for the Patriot League Tournament, which starts Saturday, March 5 on campus sites.

Navy (17-11, 10-4) wrapped up the top overall seed in the Patriot League Tournament and secured a share of the League's regular-season title with a 75-59 victory at Colgate (7-21, 2-12) Saturday afternoon in Hamilton, N.Y. The Mids avenged a 59-55 loss to the Raiders four weeks ago in Alumni Hall in Annapolis. The two teams will match up for the third time Saturday when the top-seeded Mids host No. 8 Colgate in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament. Game time is 7:00 PM.

As Navy wrapped up its win at Colgate, American (20-8, 10-4) captured its 20th win of the season with an impressive 82-47 showing over Lafayette (11-18, 4-10) in Bender Arena in the nation's capital. The Eagles finish the regular season with a 10-4 record in the League, getting a piece of the regular-season title for the second year in a row.

In Saturday's first game of the day, Bucknell (10-16, 7-7) overcame a first half in which it scored only 12 points and shot 61 percent in the second half to edge Army (13-15, 7-7) 44-40 in Christl Arena in West Point. The Bison wrapped up the No. 4 seed and will host a quarterfinal game in the Patriot League Tournament Saturday. Cosima Higham logged a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds, and Shelby Romine poured in 15. Erin Anthony scored eight points and logged 12 boards for the Black Knights.

In Saturday night's lone contest, Lehigh ran away from Holy Cross to post an 83-55 victory in Stabler Arena in Bethlehem. The Mountain Hawks improved to 10-4 in the League, leading to a three-way share of the regular-season title with Navy and American. Lehigh clinched the No. 2 seed with the victory and forced Holy Cross to settled for the sixth seed in the upcoming League Tournament.

With the regular season coming to an end, the matchups are set for the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals. Third-seeded American hosts No. 6 Holy Cross at 2 p.m. in Washington. The other three games will tip off at 7 p.m., with No. 8 Colgate visiting top-seeded Navy, No. 2 Lehigh welcoming rival and No. 7 Lafayette to Bethlehem and No. 4 Bucknell entertaining fifth-seeded Army.