2022 Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

The 2022 Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Northeast Conference (NEC) for the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The tournament took place on four dates between February 28 and March 8, 2022, with each game hosted by the higher-seeded school. The tournament winner, the Bryant Bulldogs, received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the first for the Bulldogs.

2022 Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2021–22
Teams9
SiteCampus sites
ChampionsBryant (1st title)
Winning coachJared Grasso (1st title)
MVPPeter Kiss (Bryant)
TelevisionNEC Front Row, ESPN3, ESPN2
2021–22 Northeast Conference men's basketball standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L PCTW L PCT
Bryant 16–2 .88922–10  .688
Wagner15–3 .83321–6  .778
LIU12–6 .66716–14  .533
Merrimack*10–8 .55614–16  .467
Mount St. Mary's9–9 .50014–16  .467
St. Francis Brooklyn7–11 .38910–20  .333
Sacred Heart6–12 .33310–20  .333
Saint Francis (PA)5–13 .2789–21  .300
Central Connecticut5–13 .2788–24  .250
Fairleigh Dickinson5–13 .2784–22  .154
* ineligible for the 2022 NCAA Tournament due to transition period
† 2022 NEC Tournament winner

Seeds

All nine of the eligible ten teams in the conference qualified for the tournament. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.

The tiebreakers used by the NEC are 1) head-to-head records of teams with identical records, 2) comparison of records against individual teams in the conference starting with the top-ranked team(s) and working down and 3) NCAA NET Rankings available on day following the conclusion of Northeast Conference regular-season play. The round-robin record tiebreaker was used to place Saint Francis (PA), Fairleigh Dickinson, and Central Connecticut in that order for the last three seeds.[1]

Seed School Conf. NET ranking[3]
(February 27th, 2021)
1 Bryant 16–2 218th
2 Wagner 15–3 132nd
3 LIU 12–6 243rd
4 Mount St. Mary's 9–9 267th
5 St. Francis Brooklyn 7–11 314th
6 Sacred Heart 6–12 325th
7 Saint Francis (PA) 5–13 329th
8 Fairleigh Dickinson 5–13 348th
9 Central Connecticut 5–13 345th

Schedule
Session Game[4] Time* Matchup Score Television
Opening Round – Monday, February 28
1 1 7:00 pm No. 9 Central Connecticut at No. 8 Fairleigh Dickinson 67–66 NEC Front Row
Quarterfinals – Wednesday March 2
2 2 7:00 pm No. 9 Central Connecticut at No. 1 Bryant 59–73 NEC Front Row
3 7:00 pm No. 5 St. Francis Brooklyn at No. 4 Mount St. Mary's 48–78
3 4 7:00 pm No. 7 Saint Francis (PA) at No. 2 Wagner 53–82
5 7:00 pm No. 6 Sacred Heart at No. 3 LIU 75–82
Semifinals – Saturday, March 5
4 6 6:00 pm No. 4 Mount St. Mary's at No. 1 Bryant 69–70 ESPN3
7 8:00 pm No. 3 LIU at No. 2 Wagner 62–82
Championship – Tuesday, March 8
5 8 7:00 pm No. 2 Wagner at No. 1 Bryant 43–70 ESPN2
*Game times in ET. Rankings denote tournament seed

Bracket
Opening Round
Monday, February 28
NEC Front Row 		Quarterfinals
Wednesday March 2
NEC Front Row 		Semifinals
Saturday, March 5
ESPN3 		Championship
Tuesday, March 8
ESPN2
            
1 Bryant 73
9 Central Connecticut 59
8 Fairleigh Dickinson 66
9 Central Connecticut 67
1 Bryant 70
4 Mount St. Mary's 69
4 Mount St. Mary's 78
5 St. Francis Brooklyn 48
1 Bryant 70
2 Wagner 43
2 Wagner 82
7 Saint Francis (PA) 53
2 Wagner 82
3 Long Island 62
3 Long Island 82
6 Sacred Heart 75

* denotes overtime period.

Championship game brawl
Main article: Bryant–Wagner brawl

During the Championship game between Bryant and Wagner, with 4:37 left in the game a fight between fans of both teams.[5] The altercation lasted almost half an hour resulting in many fans being escorted out in addition to Wagner guard Will Martinez being ejected from the game.[6][7] The game was later resumed resulting in a 70–43 Bryant victory.[8] Before the Bryant fans would be able to storm the court, Wagner had to exit the floor to prevent any more conflict.[9] After the game, 20-year-old Bryant student Connor Gleim was arrested by the Rhode Island State Police. Gleim was charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing an officer in execution of duty.[10]

References
  1. "NEC Basketball Tiebreaker Procedure". Northeast Conference. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  2. "Northeast Conference - Merrimack College Accepts Invitation to Join Northeast Conference". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
  3. "NCAA Statistics - NET Ranking MBB 2/27/2022". National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  4. "2022 Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Championship - Northeast Conference". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  5. "Melee breaks out at Bryant right before team secures NCAA Tournament berth". WPRI.com. 2022-03-09. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  6. "Wild fan brawl disrupts NEC Championship between Wagner and Bryant for over 25 minutes". For The Win. 2022-03-09. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  7. Evans, Jace. "Northeast Conference championship game between Bryant and Wagner delayed after fight breaks out in stands". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  8. Jackson, Wilton. "Wagner Player Ejected After Brawl Involving Fans at NEC Title Game". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  9. Holmlund, Ted (2022-03-09). "Wagner-Bryant NEC title game delayed by fans fighting in stands". New York Post. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  10. "Student from Mass. arrested after brawl breaks out at college basketball game". WCVB. 2022-03-10. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
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