2021 America East men's basketball tournament

2021 America East men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2020–21
Teams	9
Site	Campus sites
Champions	Hartford (1st title)
Winning coach	John Gallagher (1st title)
MVP	Austin Williams (Hartford)
Television	ESPN+ ESPN2
America East men's basketball tournaments

2020–21 America East Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
UMBC	10	–	4		.714			14	–	6		.700
Vermont	10	–	4		.714			10	–	5		.667
New Hampshire	9	–	6		.600			10	–	9		.526
Hartford †	8	–	6		.571			15	–	9		.625
Albany	6	–	6		.500			7	–	9		.438
UMass Lowell	7	–	8		.467			11	–	12		.478
Stony Brook	7	–	9		.438			9	–	14		.391
NJIT	6	–	10		.375			7	–	12		.368
Binghamton	4	–	10		.286			4	–	14		.222
Maine	2	–	6		.250			2	–	7		.222
Maine suspended its season on February 13, 2021.
† 2021 AmEast tournament winner

The 2021 America East Men's Basketball Conference tournament was the post-season men's basketball tournament for the America East Conference that began on February 27, 2021 and ended on March 13, 2021. Starting in the semifinals, all tournament games were played on the home arenas of the higher-seeded school. In Pod Play and the Quarterfinals, games were played at either New Hampshire or Hartford. The winner received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.[1][2]

Seeds

All of the teams, except for Maine, in the conference standings qualified for the tournament. Maine cancelled their season after going 2–7, so they did not compete in the conference tournament.[3] The teams were seeded by record in conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.

Seed	School	AEC Record	Tiebreaker
1	UMBC	10–4	2–0 vs Albany
2	Vermont	10–4	1–1 vs Albany
3	New Hampshire	9–6
4	Hartford	8–6
5	Albany	6–6
6	UMass Lowell	7–8
7	Stony Brook	7–9
8	NJIT	6–10
9	Binghamton	4–10

Schedule

Game	Time	Matchup	Score	Television	Attendance
Pod Play – Saturday, February 27
1	1:00 pm	No. 6 UMass Lowell vs No. 7 Stony Brook (at New Hampshire)	64–62	ESPN+	0
2	2:00 pm	No. 9 Binghamton at No. 4 Hartford	60–77		0
3	5:00 pm	No. 8 NJIT vs No. 5 Albany (at Hartford)	66–76		0
Quarterfinals – Sunday, February 28
4	1:00 pm	No. 6 UMass Lowell at No. 3 New Hampshire	72–64	ESPN+	0
5	3:00 pm	No. 5 Albany at No. 4 Hartford	77–83		0
Semifinals – Saturday, March 6
6	2:00 pm	No. 6 UMass Lowell at No. 1 UMBC	79–77	ESPN+
7	4:00 pm	No. 4 Hartford at No. 2 Vermont	71–65
Championship – Saturday, March 13
8	11:00 am	No. 6 UMass Lowell at No. 4 Hartford	50–64	ESPN2
Game times in ET. Rankings denote tournament seeding. All games hosted by higher-seeded team or at pod site.[4]

Bracket and results

	Pod Play Saturday, February 27, 2021 ESPN+					Quarterfinals Sunday, February 28, 2021 ESPN+					Semifinals Saturday, March 6, 2021 ESPN3/ESPN+					Championship Saturday, March 13, 2021 ESPN2
											1	UMBC	77
						3	New Hampshire	64			6	UMass Lowell	79
						6	UMass Lowell	72
	5	UMass Lowell	64
																6	UMass Lowell	50
	8	Stony Brook	62
																4	Hartford	64
	3	Hartford	77
											2	Vermont	65
	10	Binghamton	60
						4	Hartford	83			4	Hartford	71
						5	Albany	77
	6	Albany	76
	7	NJIT	66

Game summaries

Pod Play

ESPN+

February 27, 2021 1:00 pm EST

[1]

No. 7 Stony Brook Seawolves 62, No. 6 UMass Lowell River Hawks 64
Scoring by half: 43-29, 19-35
Pts: J. Rodriguez – 22 Rebs: M. Gueye – 13 Asts: J. McKenzie – 2		Pts: O. Noel – 23 Rebs: 2 tied – 4 Asts: 2 tied – 3

Lundholhm Gymnasium – Durham, NH Attendance: 0 (COVID-19) Referees: Kevin O'Connell, Andy O'Brien, Michael Fortunato

ESPN+

February 27, 2021 2:00 pm EST

[2]

No. 9 Binghamton Bearcats 60, No. 4 Hartford Hawks 77
Scoring by half: 24-34, 36-43
Pts: D. Petcash – 15 Rebs: H. Hjalmarsson – 7 Asts: 3 tied – 2		Pts: A. Williams – 29 Rebs: A. Williams – 15 Asts: 2 tied – 5

Chase Arena – West Hartford, CT Attendance: 0 (COVID-19) Referees: John Floyd, King Whetstone, Mike Kitts Jr.

ESPN+

February 27, 2021 5:00 pm EST

[3]

No. 8 NJIT Highlanders 66, No. 5 Albany Great Danes 76
Scoring by half: 23-39, 43-37
Pts: Z. Cooks – 26 Rebs: 3 tied – 4 Asts: M. Gray – 2		Pts: J. Doles – 21 Rebs: 2 tied – 6 Asts: J. Horton – 7

Chase Hall – West Hartford, CT Attendance: 0 (COVID-19) Referees: John Floyd, King Whetstone, Mike Kitts Jr.

See also

• 2021 America East women's basketball tournament
• America East Conference men's basketball tournament

References

1. Gaydos, Ryan (February 25, 2021). "2021 America East Conference men's basketball tournament: Matchups, players to know & more". Fox News. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
2. Byrum, Tyler (February 23, 2021). "America East tournament 2021: Bracket, how to watch, dates, preview, location". NBCSports.com. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
3. "Maine opts out of rest of season, citing COVID". February 13, 2021.
4. "2021 Hercules Tires Men's #AEPlayoffs Matchups Set". America East Conference. February 21, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.