ASTON, Pa. – The Neumann University Men's Basketball team will look to defend last year's Atlantic East Tournament crown, starting with a first-round match up against Marywood University on Tuesday night.
 
The Knights earned the number four seed on the strength of an 8-6 conference record, as part of their 16-9 overall mark. Marywood is 13-12 with a conference mark of 6-8, nabbing them the fifth seed. The winner of Monday's game will head to the first seed, Marymount University in the semifinals on Thursday.
 
This is a rematch of last year's semifinals in which Neumann won on their way to the championship. This year, they split their two regular-season meetings. On January 21^st, Marywood took a 78-68 win on their home court as DJ Earl led with 20 points. In the penultimate game of the regular season, this past Wednesday, it was the Knights who grabbed the home-court win, 84-76. Donte Dupriest was the catalyst with 25 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Dupriest averages a double-double this season with 19.6 points per game and 10.9 rebounds per game. Both are top two in the conference. Earl averages 19.3 points per game, Bryan Etienne averages 14.6, and Jayson Love averages 14.5. Earl is also the team's top passing option with 60 assists, but both Izaiah Johnson Young-El and Dupriest distribute the ball well with 52 and 51 assists, respectively. On the defensive side, Earl leads the Knights with 40 steals while Dupriest has 14 blocks.

Game time on Tuesday is scheduled for 8:00 PM at the Mirenda Center.