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Coppin State faces Mount St. Mary's in play-in game

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:12 PM Mount St. Mary's (18-14) vs. Coppin St (16-20) 7:30 pm EDT

DAYTON, Ohio (Ticker) -- Of all the teams in the NCAA Tournament, none faced longer odds than Coppin State.

The Eagles, who started the season 4-19, meet Mount Saint Mary's on Tuesday in the opening-round game. The reward for the winner is a date against top seed North Carolina on Friday.

Coppin State (16-20) is the first team to play in the NCAA Tournament with 20 losses, though that is a bit deceiving since it played 32 regular-season games.

Still, the Eagles could not have imagined this on February 2, when a 56-48 loss to Delaware State dropped them to 4-19, including 0-8 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

Coppin State regrouped to win eight of its last nine regular-season games, then posted four wins as a No. 7 seed in the MEAC tournament by a combined six points.

Senior guard Tywain McKee, Coppin State's leading scorer at 16.1 points per game, had 33 points in the Eagles' 62-60 win over Norfolk State in the MEAC championship game.

Mount Saint Mary's (18-14) also pulled off a few surprises, winning road games against top seed Robert Morris and Sacred Heart to capture the Northeast Conference title.

Senior guard Chris Vann is the leading scorer for "the Mount," averaging 15.1 points per game. Freshman Jean Cajou, a reserve guard, was the Most Valuable Player in the NEC tournament. He chipped in 15 points in the Mountaineers' 68-55 win over Sacred Heart.

Mount Saint Mary's earned its first NCAA tournament berth since 1999. Milan Brown is in his fifth season as the Mountaineers' coach, taking over in 2003 when the legendary Jim Phelan retired after 49 years at the school.