The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team has earned the #2 seed in the East Regional of the 2020 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament and will take on #7 Dominican College.The Selection Show archived video can be accessed here.

St. Thomas Aquinas had already qualified for its fifth consecutive trip the the field of 64 on the strength of Sunday's 74-67 ECC Final victory over the University of Bridgeport, who entered the weekend as the East Region's top seed, with STAC placing #2. Eight bids were awarded in the region with champions from the ECC (St. Thomas Aquinas), Northeast-10 (St. Anselm), and Central Atlantic (Dominican) capturing automatic bids and the others issued on an at-large basis.

Aside from the rivalry fostered by the close proximity between STAC and Dominican, the two squads have intense recent history on the floor as well. In last season's East Regional semi-final at St. Anselm, Lou Griffith's game-tying three-pointer with five seconds left in regulation sent the contest to overtime, where the Spartans prevailed in an 86-83 thriller to advance to the Regional Final.

Dominican exacted a measure of revenge this season on November 25th, invading Aquinas Hall and stopping the Spartans' season-opening six game winning streak with an impressive 87-73 triumph. That proved to be just one of four losses within the region for STAC this season, and Dominican remains the only regional team on the schedule this season that the Spartans have not defeated.

Game dates and times will be released in the coming days, and the winner of the local showdown will advance to face the winner of #3 Jefferson vs. #6 Stonehill. The other side of the East bracket sees #1 Bridgeport taking on #8 Daemen in an all-ECC tussle, with #4 St. Anselm squaring off with #5 LeMoyne in a battle of NE-10 powers.

2020 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament - East Regional

at University of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, CT - March 14-17, 2020

1.  University of Bridgeport (ECC, 24-4) (At-large)

2.  St. Thomas Aquinas (ECC, 25-5) (ECC Tournament Champs)

3.  Jefferson University (CACC, 27-4) (At-large)

4.  St. Anselm College (NE-10, 21-8) (NE-10 Tournament Champs)

5. LeMoyne College (NE-10, 19-9) (At-large)

6.  Stonehill College (NE-10, 18-11) (At-large)

7. Dominican College (CACC, 25-6) (CACC Tournament Champs)

8. Daemen College (ECC, 24-8) (At-large)