Cabrini Returns To NCAA Tournament Friday Night

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- For the first time since 2014, the Cabrini University men's basketball team is headed to the Division III NCAA Tournament.

The Cavaliers will travel to Middlebury, Vermont, to take on Lycoming College in the first round on Friday night.

Cabrini earned at at-large berth to the tourney after being eliminated in the semifinals of the Colonial States Athletic Conference Tournament in heart breaking fashion by Gwynedd Mercy. The Griffins hit a three at the buzzer to win that game. Cabrini head coach Tim McDonald says it was nerve-wracking to be on the bubble heading into Monday's selection show.

"I knew that our strength of schedule was very good," Cabrini head coach Tim McDonald tells KYW Newsradio. "We scheduled very well in the non-conference and, to the rest of our conference's credit, our conference has gotten much better, which has really helped with our overall strength of schedule numbers. So a very exciting time around here and we're just preparing to get up there and compete against Lycoming on Friday."

Listen to the entire interview with Cabrini head coach Tim McDonald:

The conversation about Cabrini's success starts with their wildly talented junior forward Tyheim Monroe. A Philadelphia native and Olney Charter High School product, Monroe is a double-double machine (51 in 53 career games at Cabrini) and a dominant force in the front court for the Cavaliers.

"He has been relentless for us all season," McDonald says. "Leading scorer (22.1 ppg) and rebounder (15.7 rpg) in our conference, but he's also the leading rebounder in the country. He's been one of the most consistent players around in all of Division III. He was named our conference's player of the year last week. He has just been the guy that's always there for us. We know what we're getting from him on a nightly basis and he's really been a calming influence on the other guys around the team. They know that he's going to bring it every night and I think that allows them to play their game."

The Lycoming team the Cavaliers will play in the first round is 23-4 and the Warriors are the champions of the MAC Commonwealth.

"They press and play up-tempo for 40 minutes," McDonald says. "They'll play 12, 13 guys over 10 minutes a game. So we need to make sure that when we get in there (against) them, we have to, first and foremost, take care of the ball and then we have to get the game at our tempo. We don't want the game going a thousand miles an hour. I think that plays into their style more. So if we are able to value the ball, take care of the ball, and then keep the game at our tempo, it will definitely be a factor for us and definitely help us."

The winner of this game plays the winner of Middlebury and Farmingdale State in the second round on Saturday.

Cabrini and Lycoming get underway at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.