The Empire 8 men's basketball tournament is the annual conference basketball championship tournament for the NCAA Division III Empire 8 conference. The tournament has been held annually since 2004. It is a single-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records.
The winner, declared Empire 8 champion, receives the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division III Basketball Championship.
Prior to 2004, the league championship was awarded to the team with the best regular-season record. Since the tournament's establishment, St. John Fisher was the most successful program, with 6 titles.
Results YearChampionsScoreRunner-up 2004 St. John Fisher 62–59 Utica 2005 St. John Fisher 92–51 RIT 2006 St. John Fisher 74–61 Utica 2007 St. John Fisher 78–73 (OT) Utica 2008 Nazareth 64–63 St. John Fisher 2009 RIT 76–71 (OT) Nazareth 2010 Nazareth 65–64 St. John Fisher 2011 Hartwick 69–58 St. John Fisher 2012 Ithaca 71–55 Nazareth 2013 Ithaca 70–55 Stevens Tech 2014 Hartwick 67–62 Nazareth 2015 St. John Fisher 77–62 Alfred 2016 Hartwick 93–91 St. John Fisher 2017 St. John Fisher 80–69 Stevens Tech 2018 Nazareth 66–64 Utica 2019 Alfred 90–78 St. John Fisher 2020 St. John Fisher 72–64 Nazareth 2021 Utica 89–65 St. John Fisher 2022 Nazareth 54–53 Utica 2023 St. John Fisher78–62Nazareth 2024 Utica97–90Nazareth 2025 Utica 89–76 SUNY Poly 2026 Keuka 83–80 Brockport
Championship records School Finals record Finals appearances Years St. John Fisher 8–6 14 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2015, 2017, 2020, 2023 Nazareth 4–6 10 2008, 2010, 2018, 2022 Hartwick 3–0 3 2011, 2014, 2016 Utica 2–5 7 2021, 2024 Ithaca 2–0 2 2012, 2013 Alfred 1–1 2 2019 RIT 1–1 2 2009 Keuka 1–0 1 2026 Stevens Tech 0–2 2 SUNY Poly 0–1 1 Brockport 0–1 1
Schools highlighted in pink are former members of the Empire 8 Elmira, Geneseo, Houghton, and Sage have not yet qualified for the Empire 8 tournament finals Medaille never qualified for the tournament finals as Empire 8 members.
References