A pair of metropolitan area schools squeaked into the National Invitational Tournament as the lowest seeds in their brackets.
Stony Brook (22-9) and Quinnipiac (23-9) drew eighth seeds in the 32-team tournament. Stony Brook will face top seed Illinois (19-14) in the opening round on Wednesday, and Quinnipiac will take on No. 1 Virginia Tech (23-8).
The Seawolves, who clinched an NIT berth by winning the America East regular-season title before they lost to Boston University in the conference tournament semifinals, have their work cut out for them in order to advance past the first round. Illinois took Ohio State, an NCAA Tournament No. 2 seed, to double overtime before losing to the Buckeyes in the Big Ten tournament semifinals.
Stony Brook, which set program records for wins and conference wins this season, does have the advantage of hosting the game at Stony Brook Arena.
Quinnipiac missed out on a trip to the NCAA Tournament by two points when it lost 52-50 to Robert Morris in the Northeast Conference title game. The game in Blacksburg, Va., will be the Bobcats’ first appearance in either the NCAA or NIT tournament since entering the Division I ranks for the 1998-99 season.
“It’s the culmination of what’s been a record-setting season for us,” Quinnipiac coach Tom Moore said on the team’sWeb site.
If the Bobcats upset Virginia Tech, they could face No. 4 UConn in the second round if the Huskies get past No. 5 Northeastern.
dtomasino@nypost.com