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BRISTOL, Conn. – The University of Hartford men's basketball team learned that Saint Peter's College will be its opponent in the upcoming 2012 ESPN Sears BracketBusters, as announced by ESPN on Monday evening.
The Hawks will make the 130-mile trek to Jersey City, N.J. on Saturday, February 18, three weeks prior to Selection Sunday, for a 2:00 p.m. showdown. The Peacocks will then make a return visit to West Hartford, Conn. in November or December of the 2013-14 season.
Hartford and Saint Peter's will meet for the seventh time in the Division I histories of both schools. The teams last hooked up during the 1997-98 season with Saint Peter's coming away with an 87-71 victory on its home court in the Garden State. Hartford's lone win in the all-time series was in the 1996-97 campaign when the Hawks pulled out an 81-69 final in overtime at home on December 21.
Saint Peter's (4-18, 3-8 MAAC), guided by John Dunne who is in his sixth season at the helm of the Peacocks, got off to a rough start dropping 11 of its first 13 games with its two wins coming against Binghamton and Siena. Since the start of 2012, Saint Peter's has gone 2-7, scoring both victories over Canisius.
Most recently, the Peacocks have lost its last four and five more times before meeting up with the Hawks. Chris Prescott leads the team in scoring with 12.0 points per game while Darius Conley adds 11.1 ppg on an offense that averages 59.5 points per game. Conley also leads Saint Peter's rebounding efforts with 7.7-per-game. Saint Peter's allows its opponents to score 68.8 points per outing.
For the first time in America East history, all nine of the conference's men's basketball programs are eligible for Sears BracketBusters. Binghamton, Boston University, UMBC and Stony Brook join the Hawks on the road while Albany, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont serve as home teams for the event.
Stony Brook, the top team in the conference, will visit Northeastern while Boston University will head to Loyola. In other America East matchups, Albany will host Rider, Binghamton will travel to Radford, Maine will host Marist, UMBC visits Canisius, New Hampshire will entertain Towson and Vermont will host Niagara.
Teams participating in this year's Sears BracketBusters have produced 89 appearances in the last six NCAA Championships, including Albany in 2006 and 2007, UMBC in 2008, Binghamton in 2009, Vermont in 2010, and Boston University in 2011. The 142-team field features schools from 16 conferences.
This is Hartford's second appearance in BracketBusters. The Hawks drew Marist in their BracketBusters debut in 2009 and dropped a 57-35 decision in Poughkeepsie. The Hawks shot just 23-percent in that game and went 6-of-29 from beyond the arc.
