2012 MAAC Wild Card Games Selected by ESPN
MAAC Sports
Edison, N.J. - ESPN has chosen the two MAAC men's basketball matchups that will be televised on Friday, February 24.
The ESPN2 telecast on Feb. 24 will feature Loyola University Maryland (16-5, 9-2 MAAC) at Rider University (9-14, 6-5 MAAC). Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m. at Rider's Alumni Gymnasium. The first matchup between the Greyhounds and the Broncs will take place on Friday, February 3 at 7:00 p.m., live on ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network.
Fairfield University (11-10, 6-4 MAAC) will take on host Iona College (17-5, 9-2 MAAC) at the Hynes Center at 9:00 p.m. on ESPNU. In their first meeting this season on January 27, the Gaels claimed a 71-62 victory over the Stags in Bridgeport, Conn. In that game, which was also featured on ESPNU, Lamont Jones scored 20 points and Mike Glover had 13 points and 11 rebounds as Iona took a 19-point first-half lead and held on to defeat Fairfield. Iona maintained a double-digit advantage until the Stags got within eight with 7:30 left. After they closed the deficit to 61-57 with 2:39 to go, Scott Machado scored three of his 18 points. Desmond Wade's 3-pointer for Fairfield with 38 seconds remaining made it 66-62, but the Stags missed their last three shots as the Gaels hit 5-of-6 free throws. Rakim Sanders led Fairfield with 24 points.
Ten of the 18 games at the 2012 MAAC Basketball Championships are set to air on one of the ESPN platforms during the annual joint championships, which will be hosted for the first time at the neutral site MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass. from March 1-5, 2012.