MOUNT VERNON, Ohio (2-25-2008) - The Mount Vernon Nazarene University men’s basketball team earned the No. 4 seed and will host No. 5 seed Notre Dame College in the first round of the American Mideast Conference Tournament on Thursday at 8:00 p.m.

The Cougars, who are ranked No. 17 in the most recent NAIA Division II poll, finished the regular season with a 22-6 overall record and a 9-5 AMC South Division mark. MVNU had won five straight games before falling 82-69 at Ohio Dominican University on Saturday in the regular-season finale.

The Cougars are led in scoring by junior guard Ben Falkenberg (20.4 ppg), who also leads the team with 109 three-pointers made and shoots 91.4 percent from the free throw line. Junior forward Jadin Thomas adds 15.5 points and 7.9 rebounds per game to go with 50 blocked shots and is averaging 20.4 points and 10.4 rebounds over the past five games with four double-doubles. Senior post Connor Gregg contributes 10.8 points and 6.5 rebounds, and junior guard Dan Borcherdt averages 10.7 points and has handed out a team-high 118 assists.

Notre Dame will enter Thursday’s contest with a deceiving 14-14 overall record. The Falcons won their final four regular-season games to earn a share of the AMC North Division title with a 7-3 mark.

Notre Dame is led by senior guard Jerome Pierce, who averages 20.7 points and has nailed 113 three-pointers this season. Junior guard Kyle Miller adds 13.5 points per game, while sophomore center Karim McFarlane contributes 12.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per contest to go with a team-leading 70 blocked shots. The Falcons shoot 38.3 percent from three-point range and hold their opponents to just 42.8 percent shooting from the field overall.

This will be the second straight year that MVNU and Notre Dame will square off in the AMC Tournament. Last year, the Falcons came away with a 102-100 overtime win in the semifinals at Notre Dame on a three-pointer by Miller at the buzzer. Pierce poured in 32 points in that game, while McFarlane added 21 points. MVNU was led by Mark Hess (23 points), Falkenberg (21 points), and Steve Mayes (20 points) in that contest.

In the other first round game on Thursday, No. 6 seed Point Park (Pa.) University (16-11) will travel to No. 3 seed Ohio Dominican University for a 7:30 p.m. tip.

The winner of the MVNU-Notre Dame game will travel to the loser of the AMC Championship game between Walsh University (24-4) and Malone College (20-8) on Saturday, while the Point Park-Ohio Dominican winner will travel to No. 2 seed Cedarville University (20-7). The game between Walsh and Malone takes place on Tuesday at Walsh with the winner receiving the first of the AMC’s two automatic berths into the NAIA Division II National Tournament in Point Lookout, Missouri.