The College of Staten Island men’s basketball squad will continue its 2011 playoff run, as the Dolphins have earned a spot in the ECAC Metro NY/NJ Postseason Championship Tournament.  The Dolphins were awarded the No. 5 seeding in the eight-team draw, and will travel to No. 4 Rutgers University (Newark), in Newark, New Jersey, on Wednesday, March 2, at 8pm, for opening round quarterfinal play.  The ECAC Tournament will continue with the semifinals and final round on March 5-6, with play always held at the higher seeded team.
CSI earned the ECAC spot by virtue of their 17-10 regular season mark this season.  The team made it all the way to the CUNYAC Final, falling to Medgar Evers College.  The Dolphins were the No. 1 seed entering the tournament, having won the CUNYAC South Division.  RU-Newark, a member of the New Jersey Athletic Conference, finished 17-7 this season, sporting a 7-6 mark in their very competitive conference.  The Scarlet Raiders did not qualify for their six-team conference tournament field.
For the Dolphins, the ECAC berth marks their 16th trip to the ECAC postseason, and their first since the 2007-08 campaign.  The Dolphins have lost their last two opening round ECAC games, the last one coming at the hands of Rutgers-Newark in 2004-05, a 76-63 final.  The squads have split four all-time meetings.  Their last meeting in Newark was back on December 9, 1996, when CSI defeated the Scarlet Raiders for the first time in their history, 66-62.