NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - #2 FDU men's basketball (19-14, 10-6 NEC) headed up to New England in search of the seventh Northeast Conference tournament title in program history Tuesday as the Knights take-on the 2022-23 Regular Season Champion Merrimack Warriors in the NEC Championship Final at 7 p.m. live on ESPN2. This is FDU's 12th NEC championship game appearance.

Owning a 2-0 record against the top-seeded team in the league this season, FDU is 1-0 in North Andover in head coach Tobin Anderson's young tenure and Tuesday's game will be the first played in Lawler Arena, primarily the home of the Warriors' men's and women's ice hockey teams.

Merrimack comes into the title game on a 10-game win streak and have won each of their last six games at home. Senior forward Jordan Minor, the 2022-23 Co-Player of the Year in the NEC, paces the league in scoring while sophomore Devon Savage is dangerous from distance for the Warriors.

The Knights were picked tied for sixth in the NEC Preseason Coaches Poll and rightfully so, the team was coming off a 4-22 season the year prior and turned over the majority of the roster as Anderson brought in eight newcomers with five returners. Among those newcomers were three familiar faces for Anderson and his staff in fifth-year guards Demetre Roberts and Grant Singleton and junior forward Sean Moore - each playing for him at Division II St. Thomas Aquinas before moving to the banks of the Hackensack.

Among the numerous impressive accolades of this year's Knights squad, three earned postseason honors in the nine-team Northeast Conference with Roberts tabbed to the First Team, Singleton earning a spot on the second team and sophomore forward Ansley Almonor named to the Third Team All-NEC, in addition to being crowned the league's Most Improved Player.

In five seasons, Anderson, Roberts and Singleton own a 13-4 postseason record and enter Tuesday's tilt 3-0 in conference championship games. In four years together at STAC the group earned four NCAA tournament bids and three Sweet 16 appearances, the lone exception being the COVID-19 impacted 2019-20 tournament which was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Missing the first month of the season, junior guard Joe Munden Jr. dazzled increasing his output offensive - complementing the work done on the boards by Moore and in the scoring column by the mainstays in the backcourt.

Additionally, it was revealed Tuesday afternoon that Anderson was named a finalist for the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year award, presented annually to the top first-year head coach in Division I.

Having already clinched the NEC's automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament regardless of Tuesday's result, FDU awaits their matchup on Selection Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 12 on CBS.

The 2022-23 men's basketball season is presented by Bogota Savings Bank.