Valhalla, N.Y. – This has been a great year for Men's Basketball Head Coach Jeff Brustad. After earning his 400^th career victory earlier in the season, Brustad added another feather to his cap in the form of his tenth Region XV Championship on Sunday. The Mustangs defeated Harcum College, 98-90, at Westchester Community College, after coming up winless against the Bears in their three previous matches this season.
 
Both teams started the game shooting well. Monroe jumped out to a 10-6 lead in the first three minutes of action. Hampus Ahlin opened the scoring for the Mustangs, and the sophomore had the hot touch all game, bringing fans to their feet with key shots. Donald Butler scored a basket, while Jarron Chapman made a couple and Dani Koljanin added another to reach the ten-point mark.
 
The game stayed within one possession until the 8:00 mark of the first half, when the Mustangs took over. Trailing 32-30, Monroe got a three-pointer from Clifton Tracey and two from Ahlin to put the team ahead, 39-32. Later in the half, a layup from Mouhamadou Gueye gave the team its largest lead of the game, 15 points, at 51-36. The Bears rallied, but still trailed at the half, 54-47.
 
Harcum opened the second half on fire, pulling within two points early on. From there, Monroe took over in the paint. The team got a pair of thunderous dunks from Chapman and Bryan Assie, both of which brought the crowd to a frenzy. Eventually Monroe led 59-56 with 16:33 on the clock. The team turned up the defensive pressure which keyed an 11-2 run to make the score 70-58. Ahlin, Assie, and Chapman accounted for all of the points in the scoring spree, and the team forced the Bears into five turnovers in that stretch. Monroe never relinquished the lead, and key foul shots from Tyler Ancrum and Ahlin late in the game helped seal the 98-90 victory.
 
Ahlin scored a game-high 27 points, and Assie came off the bench to score 21. Ancrum totaled 15 while Chapman and Koljanin finished with 11 points each. The team improved to 22-10 on the year. Chapman was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, and Assie and Koljanin were selected to the All-Tournament Team.
 
The Mustangs will advance to the District 3 Championship game against Harford Community College on Friday, March 10^th, at 8:00 PM in Bel Air, Maryland. Monroe defeated the Fighting Owls in their only meeting in earlier in the year.