Mount St. Mary's to play in NCAA basketball tournament

Junior Jeremy Goode and freshman Shawn Atupem added 13 and 12 points, respectively for the winners. The triumph was the Mountaineers eighth in the past nine games, including Saturday's topping of the tournament's top seed, Robert Morris.

The Mount ended the game with an 11-0 run in the game's final three minutes, when the hosts cut the lead to 57-55.

In the first half, the Mountaineers opened up a 28-19 lead, eventually taking a 28-23 lead into intermission. The visitors shot a scorching 85 percent from the foul line (30 of 35), and were able to withstand the Pioneers' containment of leading scorer Chris Vann (14.7 points per game), who finished with just four points and was saddled with foul trouble for most of the game.

The tournament starts March 20, but Mount St. Mary’s does not yet know when or who it will play.

This was the first conference title for Mount St. Mary's head coach Milan Brown, who captured the title in his fifth season at the school. The spot in the national tournament is the Emmitsburg university's first since 1999.