The 2021 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The tournament was played from March 8–13, 2021 at the Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey for the second year in a row. Since 2020's tournament was never fully completed, the defending champions were the 2018–19 Iona Gaels.
No. 9 seeded Iona won the 2021 MAAC Men's Basketball Tournament, defeating No. 7 seed Fairfield 60–51 in the championship game for their MAAC leading 13th championship. Their tournament run included knocking off top-seeded Siena in the quarterfinals, improving their record against the Saints in the MAAC Tournament to 11–0. This made it five consecutive MAAC Tournament championships for Iona, and the first time that a No. 9 seed reached and won the championship game. Iona received the MAAC's automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA tournament and were given a No. 15 seed.
Seeds All 11 teams in the conference participated in the tournament. The top five teams received byes to the quarterfinals. New procedures took effect for this season, as it was official that not all MAAC teams reached the originally scheduled 20 conference game mark. Team seeding was based on overall conference regular season wins – not including any third games scheduled between teams in lieu of non-conference opponents. A tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records was also used. SeedSchoolConferenceTiebreaker 1Tiebreaker 2Tiebreaker 31Siena12–32 wins vs MON (1)2Monmouth12–60 wins vs SIE (2)3Saint Peter's10–81 win vs MAR 2 wins vs SIE & MON (3)4Marist10–81 win vs SPC 1 win vs SIE & MON (4)5Niagara7–93 wins vs CAN, FF, QUINN 0 wins vs CAN 2 wins vs SIE & MON (5)6Canisius7–53 wins vs NIA, FF, QUINN 0 wins vs NIA 1 win vs SIE & MON (6)7Fairfield7–112 wins vs NIA, CAN, QUINN 1 win vs QUINN 2 wins vs SPC & MAR (7)8Quinnipiac7–102 wins vs NIA, CAN, FF 1 win vs FF 1 win vs SPC & MAR (8)9Iona6–31 win vs MAN 2 wins vs SIE & MON (9)10Manhattan6–121 win vs IONA 0 wins vs SIE & MON (10)11Rider5–13
Schedule
SessionGameTime* MatchupScoreAttendanceTelevision First Round – Monday, March 8117:00 pmNo. 6 Canisius vs No. 11 Rider76–78ESPN+ First Round– Tuesday, March 9225:00 pmNo. 8 Quinnipiac vs No. 9 Iona48–72ESPN+37:30 pmNo. 7 Fairfield vs No. 10 Manhattan59–58 Quarterfinals – Wednesday, March 10345:00 pmNo. 1 Siena vs No. 9 Iona52–55ESPN+57:30 pmNo. 2 Monmouth vs No. 7 Fairfield60–79 Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 11465:00 pmNo. 3 Saint Peter's vs No. 11 Rider75–60ESPN+77:30 pmNo. 4 Marist vs No. 5 Niagara62–67 Semifinals – Friday, March 12585:30 pmNo. 5 Niagara vs No. 9 Iona 64–70ESPNews98:00 pm No. 3 Saint Peter's vs No. 7 Fairfield 47–52ESPNU Championship – Saturday, March 136104:00 pmNo. 7 Fairfield vs No. 9 Iona51–60ESPNU *Game times in ET. ( )-Rankings denote tournament seeding. *Attendance is restricted to family and special guests due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Bracket
* denotes number of overtimes
Game summaries
First round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Championship
Team and tournament leaders
Team leaders Team Points Rebounds Assists StealsBlocksMinutesW – L Canisius J. Henderson 16 Harried 8 Fofana 3 Fritz 2 Green 2 J. Henderson 36 0–1 Fairfield Wojcik 51 Benning 30 Green 10 Benning 5 Benning & Cruz 4 Wojcik 153 3–1 Iona Gist 65 Jr. Joseph 37 Gist 11 JeanLouis 9 Jr. Joseph 3 Ross 149 4–0 Manhattan Nelson 16 Nelson & Diallo 11 Stewart 5 Nelson & Ebube 2 Buchanan 3 Stewart 40 0–1 Marist Jones 14 Jones 10 Wright & Sullivan 2 3 tied 1 Bell 2 Herasme 33 0–1 Monmouth Martin 13 McClary 5 D. Hammond 3 3 tied 3 Ruth 2 Papas 35 0–1 Niagara Solomon 38 M. Hammond 14 M. Hammond 7 MacDonald 5 Nwandu 3 M. Hammond 76 1–1 Quinnipiac Kortright 7 Rigoni 6 Lewis 8 5 tied 1 Pinkney & Chenery 1 Rigoni 29 0–1 Rider Murray Jr. 37 McQuarter 12 Murray Jr. 10 McQuarter & Henderson Jr. 3 Henderson Jr. 2 Murray Jr. 74 1–1 Saint Peter's Ndefo 29 Ndefo 19 Lee 9 Lee 4 Ndefo 6 Edert 72 1–1 Siena Stormo 14 Pickett 8 Pickett 5 Camper 3 Stormo 3 Camper 40 0–1
All-championship team 2021 MAAC Men's Basketball All-Championship Team Raheem Solomon, Niagara – 19 ppg, 6.5 rpg KC Ndefo, Saint Peter's – 14.5 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 3 bpg Jake Wojcik, Fairfield – 12.8 ppg, 6 rpg, 38.3 mpg Taj Benning, Fairfield – 11.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 37 mpg Berrick Jeanlouis, Iona – 8.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 36.8 mpg Isaiah Ross, Iona – 11.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 37.3 mpg MVP Asante Gist, Iona – 16.3 ppg, 2.8 apg, 32.8 mpg
See also 2021 MAAC women's basketball tournament
References