After Winning The CSAC, Gwynedd Mercy Gets Marietta In D-III Tourney

GWYNEDD VALLEY, P.A., (CBS) -- For the fifth time in program history, the Gwynedd Mercy University men's basketball team is headed to the Division III NCAA Tournament.

The Griffins will visit Marietta College out in Ohio in the first round on Friday night.

Gwynedd Mercy won the Colonial States Athletic Conference title and they bring a 21-6 record into the NCAA Tournament. Since a 5-5 start, the Griffins have won 16 of 17 games.

"Over the last few weeks, I think we've gotten to where our chemistry is really high," Gwynedd Mercy head coach John Baron tells KYW Newsradio. "We always knew that this was a special team and had a chance, and I'm glad to see for our four seniors, that they followed through with a (conference) championship and an NCAA berth."

Listen to the entire interview with Gwynedd Mercy's John Baron:

The Griffins can score the basketball. They average 87 points a game, and they have scored 90 or more 16 times this season.

"We're led by the rock behind our whole team in Darnell Artis, our 5-7, 'bigger-than-life' point guard from La Salle High School (13.6 ppg, team high 118 assists)," Baron says. "Then, MVP-candidate, first-team all-league, Julian Hyden from Bensalem High School (team high 18.6 points, 8.3 rebounds per game). Then, again, a very undersized, but very 'bigger than life' type of small forward in Cedric Elleby from Delsea (High School) over in New Jersey (16.7 ppg, 8.2 rpg). Those three kids have put it together for us and carried us along the way."

The Griffins get a tough draw in the first round as they have to play a talented Marietta team on its home floor. The Pioneers are 25-3 and 14-1 at home.

"They are definitely a fast team," Baron says. "They have a lot of possession. They shoot the three probably better than anyone so far. Our goal is going to have to be actually to slow them up. They play really fast. They're only 15 seconds into the shot clock and they are putting it up. So we're going to have to come up with a very different type of game plan."

The winner of this game plays the winner of Delaware Valley University and Oswego State in the second round on Saturday.

Friday's game will get underway at 8:00pm.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.