Brooklyn returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016. CUNYAC athletics photo

The first men's automatic bid went to an unexpected recipient, while top seeds lost in the CCIW, MIAA and NEWMAC and two Atlantic Region teams clinched tickets to the women's dance and Illinois Wesleyan and Hardin-Simmons advanced in overtime thrillers.

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Brooklyn finished its unlikely run through the CUNYAC tournament and is the first team to clinch an automatic bid to the Division III NCAA Tournament in men's basketball. The Bulldogs, who were the No. 5 seed entering the tournament, trailed for just 26 seconds and defeated Baruch 62-55 in the CUNYAC final. Brooklyn heads to the big dance with a 13-15 record.

Brooklyn started the season 1-7.

"It was just stay the course," said coach Jeffrey Jean-Baptiste after the game. "We told em we just gotta stay true to who we are. We said that from Day 1, from the beginning of the season. We told em, these are going to be the moments on the back end to allow us to enjoy the process."

Anthony McClean scored 16 points on 5-for-11 shooting to lead Brooklyn, while Michael Tesoriero, who missed six games in the conference schedule, added eight points, six rebounds and six assists.

Jake Ross netted a game-high 44 points to go along with 13 rebounds but it wasn't enough as Springfield shot just 8-for-28 from 3-point range and fell to the NEWMAC No. 5 seed, Coast Guard, 88-82 in the conference's semifinal round. The Bears were incredibly efficient on the offense end of the ball, shooting 33-of-64 (51.6%), including 18-of-31 (58%) in the second half. Garrett Drummond scored a team-high 23 points for the Bears (13-13), while Noah Baldez added 19 points. Springfield is safely in the NCAA Tournament, and if WPI wins the conference final on Sunday, the NEWMAC should place three teams in the tournament: WPI, Springfield and Babson.

WPI will play in the NEWMAC championship game for the third year in a row as the Engineers reached the 20-win mark for the 14th time in Chris Bartley's 19 seasons as head coach, defeating Babson 73-58. Garrett Stephenson led the Engineers (20-6) with 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting, while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out three assists.

Both higher seeds lost in the CCIW men's semifinals, as Illinois Wesleyan got a huge night from Peter Lambesis and took great care of the basketball in defeating Augustana 74-70. The loss all but extinguishes hopes of the Vikings (18-8) nabbing one of the 21 at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament. Lambesis hit two free throws with 1:36 left, giving IWU (19-8) a lead for the first time all game, and Matthew Leritz took advandate of a Bernie Coderre steal, hitting a 3-pointer to push the Titans' lead to four. Lambesis contributed a game-high 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting, while Cory Noe added 17, including four foul shots down the stretch to seal the win. Illinois Wesleyan committed just six turnovers on the night.

Jake Rhode scored 17 of his 25 points in the second half as Elmhurst pulled away from North Central to defeat the top seed and hosts in the other CCIW semifinal. Lavon Thomas scored 15 seconds into the second half and and the Bluejays (22-5) never trailed again. Elmhurst broke the game open with a 13-0 run, capped by seven points from Rhode, to take a 65-50 lead with 4:40 left. North Central (21-5), shot just 10-for-31 in the second half and had just one offensive rebound.

Top-seeded Albion fell in the MIAA men's semifinals, which is another league in which the No. 3 and No. 4 seed will play for the automatic bid. Jamezell Davis scored 21 points and Caden Ebeling and Cortez Garland added 17 apiece for Albion, but it wasn't enough as Trine shot 52 percent from the floor and made 11 3-pointers to get past the top-seeded Britons and into the MIAA final, 77-73. At 21-5, Albion is fairly deep on the bubble for a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The fourth-seeded Thunder will face No. 3 seed Adrian, which rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit to beat Calvin 80-78. Out of a timeout with under a minute to play and the game tied, Adrian grabbed a rebound off the second of two missed free throws from Calvin and drew a foul. Robert Warrick went to the line to put the Bulldogs up two at 77-75. With the shot clock off, Calvin had possession but Warrick stole a pass and took it down court for a slam dunk to secure the win.

Ripon's run started with a win against St. Norbert, one which snapped a long Green Knights' winning streak. If the Red Hawks are going to make the NCAA Tournament, they'll have to beat their archrivals on their home floor again, as the two teams qualified for the Midwest Conference tournament final with wins on Friday. Ripon ran its win streak to 10 in a row with an 82-51 rout of No. 3 seeded Lake Forest, while top-seeded St. Norbert had a great shooting night at home against fourth-seeded Cornell. MWC player of the year Trent Jones scored a game-high 20 in the win for Ripon (19-7), while Wade Geenen shot 5-for-9 from beyond the arc en route to 23 points for St. Norbert (23-3).

Women: Profs, Bulldogs are Atlantic Stars

Sydney Shanks (left) nearly had a triple-double in the Titans' thrilling 76-75 overtime win over Augustana in the CCIW semifinals. Photo by Dave Naprstek

Rowan shut down Montclair State in the fourth quarter and defeated the Red Hawks 64-54 to secure its first NJAC title in 21 years. Trailing 48-36 in the third quarter, the Profs found their offensive flow and scored the final 12 points of the period, with eight of them coming from Nicole Mallard. After Taylor Brown's three pulled Montclair within one at 55-54, the Profs ripped off seven points in a little more than a minute, putting the game out of reach.

Mallard finished with 22 points for Rowan, which won despite shooting 2 for 21 from three. Montclair State (21-6) is in decent position to get one of the 21 at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.

Brooklyn also punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a 64-57 victory over Hunter in the CUNYAC title game. Chanel Jemmott dominated the inside for the Bulldogs (21-6) with 14 points and 24 rebounds. Brooklyn outscored the Hawks 33-18 from behind the arc. 

The best games of the night came in the ASC and CCIW semifinals. In Texas, Hardin-Simmons knocked off tournament host and 18th-ranked Texas-Dallas in overtime, 81-78.

With 39 seconds to play in regulation, Victoria Pena hit a step-back three that gave Texas-Dallas a 66-65 lead. Kelly Skinner split a pair of free throws on the Comets' next possession to push the lead to 67-65, but the Cowgirls got the ball to Keilee Burke who was fouled and made both free throws, tying the game and sending it to overtime.

Texas-Dallas (22-5) built a five-point lead in overtime, but Hardin-Simmons (21-6) rallied again, this time on back-to-back threes by Hallie Edmondson and Brittany Schabel. The Cowgirls went ahead for good with 24 seconds left in overtime when Burke stepped inside the Comets' defense and scored a layup over a prone Texas-Dallas defender. Pena had two three-point attempts in the Comets' last two possessions, but missed both.

Taylor Gaffney scored 20 points in 40 minutes for Hardin-Simmons before fouling out. Pena led Texas-Dallas with 29 points on 9-for-23 shooting in 43 minutes. Hardin-Simmons will face rival Mary Hardin-Baylor since the Crusaders handled East Texas Baptist, 67-50.

Illinois Wesleyan also won an overtime thriller as the Titans edged Augustana 76-75 in the CCIW semifinals. Kendall Sosa put Illinois Wesleyan in front by two with a layup in the closing seconds of regulation, only to see Augustana's Alexis Jones hit a jumper at the buzzer to tie the game at 61-61. The teams battled back and forth in the extra period, with the lead changing eight times in five minutes. Jones hit two free throws to put Augustana  ahead 75-74 with two seconds left. Illinois Wesleyan responded by getting the ball to Brooke Lansford who was fouled attempting a half-court heave with one second left. She made the first two free throws and the Titans advanced to the CCIW title game.

Jones finished with 14 points, 21 rebounds and six assists for Augustana (14-13). Sydney Shanks paced Illinois Wesleyan (18-8) with 21 points, 13 rebounds and nine steals.