HARTFORD, Conn. - The Trinity College men's basketball team, coached by James Cosgrove (12th season), has qualified for the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Men's Basketball Championship Tournament for the 19th time and the eighth consecutive season. Trinity earned the No. 7 seed in the tournament with a 4-5 league mark and will host Bates in a first round game on Friday, February 18 at 7 p.m. The Bantams, who closed their regular season 14-8 (4-5 NESCAC) with a win over Elms College 89-65 on Tuesday, are tied with Connecticut College for sixth place in the league's final standings. The Camels will be the No. 6 seed due to their head-to-head win over Trinity in January. With a win over the Bobcats on Friday, Trinity will advance to the quarterfinals on Sunday at No. 2-seeded Tufts. 

Among other tournament games, top-seeded Wesleyan (21-3, 9-1) plays the winner of No. 8 Hamilton (12-12, 4-6) and No. 9 Colby (11-12, 3-7), No. 3-seeded Middlebury (17-5, 7-3) plays the winner of No. 6 Connecticut College (10-10, 4-5) and No. 11 Bowdoin (11-13. 2-8), and No.4 Williams (15-3, 5-3) hosts No. 5 Amherst (15-8, 5-5). The four quarterfinal winners will play in the NESCAC Final Four on February 26 and 27 at the site of the highest remaining seed with the winner of the league tournament earning the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.  Trinity, which ended its regular season on a four-game win streak including wins over conference foes Bates, Amherst, and Hamilton, are set to host Bates after defeating the Bobcats, 70-66, in Lewiston, Maine.

Trinity ranks No. 1 in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage defense at 25.9%, seventh nationally in defensive rebounding (34.8 per game), and eighth in the country in overall field percentage defense (37.5%). Bantam senior tri-captain C/F Donald Jorden, Jr. (Tampa, Fla.) has been stellar this winter averaging 9.9 rebounds (2nd in NESCAC), 14.8 points  (9th in NESCAC), and 1.1 blocks (6th in NESCAC) per game with a .571 field goal percentage (3rd in NESCAC) and .793 free throw percentage (7th in NESCAC). The Bantams are second in the NESCAC in assists per game at 15.8 per contest, as rookie guard Will Dorian (Needham, Mass.) and Ethan McEachern (Portland, Oregon) rank first and third, respectively, in the conference with over four dimes per game apiece. Sophomore forward Ben Callahan-Gold (New York, N.Y.) averages 12.4 points, sinking almost three treys every time out, and 6.6 rebounds per game.  Junior C.J. Redd (Peekskill, N.Y.) averages 11.5 points and over four rebounds and sophomore Gilbert Otoo (Burtonsville, Md.) adds 10.5 ppg on the wings.  Senior tri-captain guard Darius Lue (Tampa, Fla.), junior forward Dana Smith (Providence, R.I.), and Jorden have combined for 57 steals on the defensive end.  Lue has also made 23 shots from long range and fellow senior tri-captain guard Tyler Mola (Leominster, Mass.) has made 19 from beyond the arc.

Bates, coached by Jon Furbush (13th season), finished the regular season with a 9-11 overall record  and a 2-8 NESCAC mark. The Bobcats are led by junior captain Stephon Baxter who averages a league-high 21 points per game, while junior C Omar Sarr averages 9.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per contest. The Bantams are 7-3 versus the Bobcats dating back to the 2011-12 season with their last loss coming in 2018.  Jordan had a team-high 16 points and nine rebounds and Dorian added 13 points and nine assists with nine in the game on February 5.  The teams have never met before in the NESCAC Tournament.