The University of Rochester will play host to three conference champions this weekend when the Yellowjackets host the first two rounds of the 2018-19 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Playoffs.
 
Rochester will host Amherst College, champion of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), Rosemont College of Pennsylvania, champion of the Colonial State Athletic Conference, and Farmingdale State, champion of the Skyline Conference.
 
All three institutions won their conference tournament and secured a Pool A (automatic qualifying) bid to the NCAA tournament. Rochester is in the field as a Pool C (at-large) team. The Yellowjackets wound up as runners-up in the University Athletic Association, one game behind Emory University. The UAA is the only Division III basketball conference that does not sponsor a league end-of-season tournament to determine its representative to the NCAA Division III playoffs.
 
Game Times/Tickets: Action begins on Friday, March 1 at 5:30 pm with Amherst taking on Rosemont. Rochester takes the court at 7:30 pm against Farmingdale. Winning teams on Friday advance to the second round on Saturday at 7 pm. Saturday's winner will move into the sectional finals (aka Sweet 16) on March 8-9. Tickets are priced at $10 for adults, $5 for students with ID and Senior Citizens and 12 and under.
 
Site: Games will be played at the Louis Alexander Palestra (seating capacity 1,889). It has served as Rochester's home court for 89 years (1930-31 through 2018-19). In 2016, the Palestra was selected as one of the Top 125 basketball arenas by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. It was in conjunction with the Hall celebrating the 125^th anniversary of the sport of basketball.
 
Rochester: This is Rochester's 20^th NCAA playoff appearance, its 16^th in Division III. It is the fourth NCAA playoff appearance under Luke Flockerzi (2010-11, 2012-13, 2016-17, 2018-19). UR was 20-5 this year, its 13^th 20-victory season. In nine seasons, Flockerzi has a cumulative record at Rochester of 158 wins, 76 losses (.675). He coached at Skidmore College for three seasons (2007-08 through 2009-10) with a 30-46 record (.395). His combined record for 12 years is 188-122 (.606).
 
On Saturday, the Yellowjackets lost, 92-82, at Emory University. That snapped a six-game winning streak for Rochester and ended a run that saw UR win nine of 10. Three seniors top the scoring column for the Yellowjackets: Ryan Clamage (16.2 ppg., 6.6 rpg.), Jacob Wittig (10.6 ppg., 116 assists), and Andrew Lundstrom (9.4 ppg., 4.5 rpg.). Sophomore Ryan Algier (Fairport, NY) gets 7.8 ppg. and 3.4 rpg. in 15.6 mpg. off the bench. He leads Rochester with 34 blocks and paces the UAA in field goal percentage (.672). In the last 11 games, Rochester held seven opponents below .400 from the floor (and won all seven). UR was 2-2 against the four teams that broke .400.
 
Clamage and Wittig both surpassed the 1,000-point career mark this season. Clamage did it on February 10, 2019, on Senior Day versus Washington University-St. Louis in the Palestra. He scored 23 points that day and finished with 1,000 exactly. Through UR's last game (February 23 at Emory), Clamage has 1,055 points. He is 25^th in career scoring, one point shy of 24^th place (Kyle Meeker, 1990-94, 1,056 points), and three points shy of 23^rd place (Jeff Joss, 1999-03, 1,058 points). Wittig scored his 1,000^th point on his last basket of the game vs. Emory. Rochester is finishing its 118^th season of men's basketball. The Yellowjackets have 1,400 victories.
 

Farmingdale: The Rams won the Skyline Conference championship with an 81-75 victory over Yeshiva University. Farmingdale is 20-7 overall and boasts four double-figure scorers. George Riefenstahl is a First Team All-Skyline Conference forward and the league's Defensive Player of the Year. He averages 14.4 ppg. and 11.0 rpg. Matthew Graham is a Second Team All-Skyline honoree who leads the Rams in scoring (15.9 ppg.). Ali Mableton gets 12 ppg. and Ryan Kennedy supplies 11.4 ppg. Farmingdale's last NCAA playoff appearance was two years ago – in 2016-17 (like Rochester). The Rams lost a first-round game to sixth-ranked Middlebury College. Farmingdale played in the NCAA Division III playoffs in the Palestra in 2007-08. The Rams lost to Penn St.-Behrend, 83-62. Rochester defeated Middlebury College that evening (56-43), then defeated Penn St.-Behrend the next night to advance to the Sweet 16 (65-56). UR lost to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 57-48, in the Sweet 16 and finished 22-6.

Amherst College: The Mammoths (23-4) booked their place in the tournament by winning the NESCAC Championship on Sunday. Amherst won the NCAA Division III National Championship in 2007 and 2013 and has played in seven Final Fours. The Mammoths made seven straight NCAA playoff appearances (2011-2017) before returning to the tournament this year. The team's NCAA all-time record is 41-19. Amherst was seeded third for the NESCAC playoffs this year. In the opening round, Amherst defeated #6 Wesleyan, 63-56. In the NESCAC semifinals at

Hamilton, Amherst defeated Williams College, 74-69. The Mammoths booked the NCAA spot with a 62-56 win over second-seeded Hamilton. Three men average 11 points or more a game: Grant Robinson (16.0 ppg.), Fru Che (11.2 ppg.), Eric Sellew (11.0 ppg.). Amherst averages 80.2 ppg., has topped 90 points seven times, and surpassed 100 points twice.
 
Head coach David Hixon is finishing his 42^nd season with a record of 824-292. He is a two-time NABC National Coach of the Year and a three-time NABC Northeast Regional Coach of the Year. Rochester head coach Luke Flockerzi was an assistant coach at Amherst under David Hixon from 2001-04 and 2005-06.
 

Rosemont: The Ravens roar into the NCAA playoffs riding an eight-game winning streak and with 10 wins in the last 11 games. Rosemont won two high-scoring games in the CSAC playoffs. In the semifinals, the third-seeded Ravens defeated second-seeded Wilson, 113-79. In the championship game against top-seeded Cairn, Rosemont won, 100-97. Rosemont is 15-12 heading into Friday. The Ravens were 10-4 in the conference. In the semifinal win over Wilson, Keith Blassingale scored 45 points, hitting 16 of 25 from the floor, 9 of 17 outside the arc. Jalil Myers scored 20 points and pulled down 15 rebounds. Blassingale scored 28 more points and Marlon Sharpton added 20 in the tournament-clinching win against Cairn.
 
Media: All three games will be video-streamed on Rochester's website at www.uofrathletics.com/watch. There is no charge for the videostream. Rochester's games will also be available on an audio stream at www.wysl1040.com with J.C. DeLass calling the action and Carm Urzetta providing the analysis.
 
Series History for Rochester: The Yellowjackets have not played Farmingdale State or Rosemont in men's basketball before. UR and Rosemont have one common opponent this year – played at the same location and with the same point spread. On November 27, 2018, Rosemont defeated New York University, 69-66, at the Hunter College (NYC) Sportsplex. NYU is a conference opponent for Rochester. UR defeated NYU, 66-63, on February 1 at the Hunter College Sportsplex.
 
Rochester has played Amherst 18 times (won 11, lost 7), dating back to the early part of the 20^th century. The teams met six times between 1915-16 and 1920-21. The series was renewed in 1958-59. They played randomly in the 1960s and early 1970s before stopping after the January 9, 1971 game. The December 28, 1963 game was played in the downtown War Memorial Arena as park of the Kodak Classic.
 
UR's last two games against Amherst have both come in the NCAA playoffs. The Mammoths defeated UR, 74-68, at Williams College in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA playoffs. Two years later – on March 11, 2005 -  Rochester defeated Amherst, 69-62, in the Sweet 16 at LeFrak Gymnasium. Rochester defeated SUNY Potsdam the next night to reach the Final Four. The Yellowjackets defeated Calvin College in the national semifinals. They lost the NCAA title game to Wisconsin-Stevens Point on March 19, 2005.