Point Park men’s basketball punched a ticket to the Mountain East Conference Championships as the nine seed, marking its second appearance in the MEC conference tournament.
The No. 9 Pioneers face No. 8 Davis & Elkins in the first round this evening at 8:30 p.m.
The single-elimination tournament takes place at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, W. Va., from Wednesday, March 4 to Sunday, March 8.
The top 10 teams in the MEC qualify for the championships, leaving West Virginia Wesleyan as the only team not in the tournament, going 1-19 in MEC play. The top six seeds receive a bye in the four-round bracket.
Point Park closed the regular season 8-18 overall and 5-15 in MEC play.
Senior veteran Aidan Anderson leads the Pioneers in scoring and is the second-highest scorer in the MEC with 18.8 points per game. Anderson contributed 18 total points in the MEC Championships last season.
“I’m feeling good,” Anderson said. “With all the games we played and me being older, it’s probably crazy to say, but my body feels like it’s in the best shape it ever has been before.”
Coach Grandits concludes his first regular season as Point Park’s head coach and makes his first appearance in an MEC tournament. He previously spent eight seasons at Daemen University as an assistant coach, helping the team to nationally-ranked status.
Grandits said that he views Anderson as a level-headed leader on the team.
“I think that’s the whole point of coaching. [It’s] putting guys in situations where they can have a positive impact,” Grandits said. “I think just getting [Anderson] in spots where he can score it, I think it’s obviously helped him, because he’s second leading scorer in the conference.”
The Pioneers capped the regular season with a non-conference win versus Salem on Saturday, 77-62, to break a five-game losing streak.
“We built some momentum Saturday,” Grandits said. “We played well, and hopefully we can keep going on Wednesday.”
Point Park and Davis & Elkins split their regular-season matchups 1-1. The Senators defeated the Pioneers 84-57 on Dec. 13, and the Pioneers answered with a 91-77 win on Feb. 2.
“We’re just trying to figure out what [were] the things they did well, and how can we limit them from doing those things,” Grandits said.
Davis & Elkins finished 9-19 overall and 6-13 in conference play. Last season, the team won in the first round as the eight seed and fell in the quarterfinals to No. 1 West Liberty.
“I just know what to expect,” Anderson said. “It’s playoffs now so everybody is going for one goal and looking to perform and play extra hard.”
In the 2025 MEC Championships, the Pioneers upset No. 7 Frostburg State in the first round as the No. 10 seed. Point Park fell in the quarterfinal round to Fairmont State, last season’s championship winner.
“All it takes is one game,” Grandits said. “You go out there and play one good game, then you keep advancing.”
The sudden-death tournament format puts the Pioneers at risk of going home empty-handed this evening.
“Knowing this could potentially be my last game ever in college, I would love to go out with a bang,” Anderson said. “I will make sure to leave everything out on the floor that I possibly can, if that’s what it means to win for the team every single day.”
