Hall of Fame
The 1984-85 U.S. Merchant Marine Academy men’s basketball team was the first team to win 20 games in a season in the program history, and would hold the single-season victory mark for four years. Head Coach Tom Gleeson's squad, led by senior captains Bob McNamee, Chip Olsen and Kevin Byrnes, finished the campaign with a 20-9 record and were the runners-up in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Metro Tournament. It was just the second time in program history the Mariners qualified for a postseason tournament. Their regular season record of 18-8 included upsets of a nationally-ranked DIII team in overtime and victories over two Division II teams. Kings Point earned the #3-seed in the ECAC Tournament and won at home in a 94-87 slugfest over John Jay in the opening round, before squeaking by the College of Staten Island in the semifinals on the road, 72-71. The Mariners lost a thriller in overtime inside a raucous O'Hara Hall by just two points to the New Jersey Institute of Technology in the ECAC Finals.
