After a late-season run of success, the Shepherd men finished fourth in the final regular season standings.

The Rams won seven of their last nine games, but completed the season with a loss at Fairmont against the nation’s top-ranked team.

Shepherd’s overall record was 18-10 and it finished behind Fairmont, West Liberty and Wheeling Jesuit in the Mountain East Conference standings.

In a change from last season’s tournament format, only 10 teams qualified for the postseason event.

Seeded fourth in the field found the Rams paired with fifth-seeded Notre Dame in the quarterfinal round. Notre Dame had lost both of its regular season games against the Rams.

With A.J. Carr scoring 22 points, Shepherd posted a win over the Ohio-based Falcons and joined Fairmont in the semifinals.

Second-seeded West Liberty and third-seeded Wheeling Jesuit met in the second semifinal game.

Fairmont owned two regular season wins over the Rams and made it three in a row for the 2016-17 season by running off to a 93-65 win in one of the semifinals played in Charleston.

West Liberty, which was ranked fifth in the country entering the MEC tournament, defeated Wheeling Jesuit and joined Fairmont in last Sunday afternoon’s championship finale.

The Hilltoppers stopped the Falcons to get the tournament title and the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region tournament.

There were eight teams either invited by at-large bid or by winning their conference that qualified for this week’s Atlantic Region tournament.

Even though it lost for only the second time this season in the conference tournament finals, Fairmont received the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Region tournament.

Shippensburg, winner of the PSAC conference tournament, was seeded second in the Atlantic Regional with West Liberty receiving the No. 3 seed.

Seeded fourth through eighth were Indiana (Pa.), Kutztown (Pa.), Wheeling Jesuit, Virginia Union and Bowie State (Md.).

The winner of the Atlantic Region joins seven other regional winners in the Division II Elite Eight tournament.

Shepherd’s women lost their regular season finale to Fairmont and completed a 14-16 record for pre-tournament play.

In the conference tournament the Rams faced West Virginia Wesleyan in the first round in Charleston. Shepherd defeated the Bobcats by three points to advance to the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals, the Rams fell to second-seeded Wheeling Jesuit, the eventual tournament champion.

In the postseason honors department, Shepherd’s Cara Mason was named to the first-team All-MEC team. Liz Myers was named as a member of the “honorable mention” listing.