St. Mary's and York both gained bids to the 2012 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament when the national championship tournament brackets were released Monday.

York, which battled back from the No. 4 seed in the CAC Tournament to win the conference championship, gained an automatic bid to the NCAA event and will play a first-round game Friday (3/2) against Franklin & Marshall at the Diplomats' Mayser Gymnasium in Lancaster, Pa.

The winner advances to the second-round game at F&M against the winner of Friday's other first-round battle between Christopher Newport and Western Connecticut State.

SMC will make its third-straight appearance (and fourth in the last five years) in the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament Thursday when the Seahawks host Bethany (W.Va.) College in a first-round clash at St. Mary's, Md. 

The winner advances to Saturday's second-round contest against host Virginia Wesleyan, one of two teams in the tournament to draw a first-round bye.

More information will be available later on the CAC and institutional websites.