GWYNEDD VALLEY, PA. -- Gwynedd Mercy will host Marymount in the inaugural Atlantic East Men's Basketball Championship here at The Griffin Complex on Saturday, February 23rd at 2 p.m.

The top-seeded Griffins advanced to the finals after an impressive 101-84 semifinal win over #4 Wesley Thursday night. Senior Courtney Cubbage led the charge posting a career-high 36 points as all five starters reached double figures.

The #3 Saints went to second-seeded Marywood on Thursday and knocked off the Pacers, 71-64, to book their trip to the title game.

In their two regular season matchups, Gwynedd won a narrow 73-72 contest in Arlington, Va. on January 5th before the Saints returned the favor, winning 74-61 here in Gwynedd Valley back on January 30th.

GMercyU features three players that average in double digits in scoring and a fourth just under 10 points a contest. Rich Dunham (17.0 ppg/51% FG/4.3 rpg/3.7 apg/2.8 spg), Courtney Cubbage (16.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg), and Clayton Wolfe (13.8 ppg/7.0 rpg/4.3 apg/ 1.7 spg) pace an offense that is third in scoring and tops in field goal percentage in the Atlantic East. The team is 11-2 when going over their 77.8 points a game average. Gwynedd Mercy is searching for their sixth conference championship after claiming titles in the PAC/CSAC in 1999, 2004, 2005, 2009, and 2016.

Marymount enters the game as the tops in scoring defense (67.9 ppg), but last in scoring offense (70.8 ppg). Steve Etienne leads the Saints in both scoring (10.8 ppg) and rebounding (7.0 rpg). The Saints were members of the Capital Athletic Conference where they won two league crowns (1992 and 2000) and were runners up on six occasions.

The winner of Saturday's game will be named the first-ever Atlantic East Conference Men's Basketball champion. Due to the first year of new conference, there is no automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament until the 2020-21 season. The winner can look for a Pool B bid into the big dance.