CONTACT: Jeff Foley (518) 629-8085 or (518) 210-4161
FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Wednesday, February 13, 2002
http://www.hvcc.edu
Hudson Valley Community College's men's basketball team, winners of the Mountain Valley Conference's (MVC) Eastern division, will play Western division winners SUNY Delhi for the MVC title on Saturday, Feb. 23. The game will be played at SUNY Delhi at 2 p.m.
Hudson Valley, 16-8 overall, is 9-1 in MVC action. Delhi, 28-1 overall, is 12-0 in league play.
The two teams met on Jan. 24 and Delhi, ranked No. 1 in the nation among NJCAA Division III teams, escaped Troy with a 74-61 victory. The Vikings began the second half with an 18-3 run to tie the contest at 49-49, but Delhi pulled away down the stretch. Hudson Valley's Steve Valente (La Salle Institute) scored 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting.
The Vikings, who are led by Markael Brace (Albany H.S.), have won 10 of their last 12 games. Brace, a first-year guard/forward, is averaging 12.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Paolo Walker (Columbia H.S.) is averaging 10.9 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, and Jeremy Schneible (Greenwich H.S.) is averaging 10.7 points per contest.
In the 2000-01 academic year, Hudson Valley's athletic teams combined to win 72 percent of their contests. The ice hockey team won the NJCAA championship, the baseball team earned a berth in the NJCAA World Series and the football team won the Region III title. The women's basketball team earned a No. 1 national ranking and turned in a 24-3 record while the men's hoop squad competed in the Region III championship game. Additionally, two Vikings earned Region III Player-of-the-Year status, 20 were named All-Region III performers, and 10 were honored with All-American status.
