Conference tournaments are in full swing across the country, but only one squad secured a berth on Wednesday, that honor belonging to American University, taking the Patriot League championship with a 55-36 victory over Boston U.American's entry to the big dance brings to 13 the number of teams with automatic bids, of the 32 that will eventually be awarded.
Of the 32 games played on Wednesday, only a handful featured teams with hopes of reaching the NCAA promised land. One of those was North Carolina Central, which cruised through their MEAC schedule with a 15-1 mark and slammed Howard, 92-46, in the quarterfinal of the conference tourney.
The Eagles emptied their bench in the blowout, with 11 different players scoring, all led by senior Jeremy Ingram, who poured in 30 points on 9-for-12 shooting, making five of six three pointers and hitting seven of nine from the charity stripe.
The 46-point win was the largest in MEAC tournament history, and sends the Eagles to a semi-final match-up against the winner of Friday's meeting between Norfolk State and Savannah State.
