Bentley Men's And Women's Basketball Looking To Make More History In NCAA Tournament
WALTHAM (CBS) -- This past Sunday was a record-setting day at Bentley University.
For the first time in the forty-plus year history of the Northeast-10 Conference, both the Men's and Women's tournament champs are from the same school. The Lady Falcons got the championship Sunday started with a 56-49 win over Stonehill, followed by the Men capturing their conference crown with a 68-62 win over Franklin Pierce.
"Sunday was absolutely amazing," said Women's forward Autumn Ceppi, a graduate student from Bedford. "The energy and life in the gym with the fans, and being able to both celebrate wins at the same time was really cool."
"To see them come through in the end was awesome," said Men's guard Jordan Mello-Klein, a grad student from Sharon. "To watch that buzzer sound before our game -- and then we had to follow it up."
The reward is each team gets a trip to the NCAA East Regional in the DII tournament. The top-seeded Men's squad hosts Felician College Saturday at 5 p.m., while fifth-seeded Women will meet Jefferson College Friday night at Southern New Hampshire University.
"It's the best part of March. The energy, the team rallying around and doing anything they can to win," said Ceppi.
"It's a special feeling, to do it with your friends -- your best friends -- and to do with with coach [Jay Lawson], who has been a huge part of my life," said Mello-Klein.
In the dare to dream department, only twice in NCAA history has a Women's team and a Men's team won a national championship in the same season. Could it happen here?
"This was special enough, so I couldn't even imagine that," said Mello-Klein.
"Dream, yes. But we know we have a long ways to go until then," said Ceppi.
