April 22, 2008

Pierce Named as Competitor in National All-Star Tournament
NDC point guard to play in Collegiate Basketball Invitational
SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio - Notre Dame College's Jerome Pierce (Sr/Toledo, OH) has been named as a participant in the 2008 Collegiate Basketball Invitational (CBI) in Wadsworth, Ohio, April 24-26. The CBI is a major national basketball event that will gather the finest 65 senior men's basketball players from all of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II and Division III and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

The event will take place at Wadsworth High School in Wadsworth, Ohio, and will consist of eight teams of eight players each (one team with nine players) in an eight-team tournament. Each team will play a total of three games on Thursday and Friday, culminating with the championship game being played Friday night at 8 p.m. The CBI will conclude with an all-star game Saturday evening in front of a live, ESPNU audience as 20 players will be selected to play in the game.

At the three-day event, players will have an opportunity to compete in front of professional team representatives, agents, and national media, while competing against the best of the best from around the country. The 65 players selected for the event represent approximately 1,000 colleges and universities within the three divisions.

Pierce, a four-year Falcon who is the program's all-time leading scorer, with 2,271 points, will play on the Premier Pontiac team.

Notre Dame Head Coach Kevin Bille was also selected for the event; he will serve as Head Coach for the Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital team.

"This is a tremendous, well-deserved opportunity for Jerome," said Bille, who coached the Toledo native all four years at Notre Dame. Pierce became NDC's all-time leading scorer in December, 2007. In March, the 5-foot-8 point guard was tabbed as an NAIA-II First Team All-American, becoming the first NDC student-athlete to be named as such in a team sport.

"I sincerely congratulate the 65 players selected to compete in this prestigious event," said CBI founder John McCarthy. "I am very excited about these 65 players and I am proud and honored to welcome them to Wadsworth for the Collegiate Basketball Invitational. I am confident that this class of players will help make the public aware of the high level of talent at the NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and NAIA levels."

For more information about the Collegiate Basketball Invitational, please visit http://www.collegiatebasketballinvitational.com.

Notre Dame College is a co-educational liberal arts institution in South Euclid, Ohio. The Notre Dame Athletics Department sponsors the Falcons' participation in 17 men's and women's sports. The College is affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the American Mideast Conference (AMC), which is the largest NAIA conference in the country.

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