Geraldton’s Alex Ducas and St Mary’s enter the NCAA Tournament as the fifth seed in the west

Geraldton basketball star Alex Ducas has helped guide St Mary’s Gaels to the fifth seed in the NCAA Tournament following their West Coast conference championship win.

The fifth-year senior is coming for redemption after his tournament run was cut short last year due to a back injury and will get one last tilt in his final year.

During the conference championship, Ducas tied the school’s record for most games played at 149 and now he will get the chance to take the record when they play in the NCAA tournament this week.

Ducas was a standout for the Gaels in their semi-final clash against Santa Clara, where the Geraldton local dropped a team high 21 points and was named player of the match.

It comes off a big year for the program after they became the outright WCC regular season champions for the first time since 2012. It is also the first time they have been at the top in consecutive years after being equal first last year.

The NCAA Tournament or otherwise known as March Madness, sees the top 64 division one college basketball schools face off in an elimination bracket, with each game being do or die until one is left standing.

It is the third year in a row that St May’s have entered the tournament as the fifth seed, but they will look to go further after managing just one win each time before being eliminated in their past two runs.

St Mary’s enter the bracket as a fifth seed in the West and they will face off against the 12th seed Grand Canyon in the first round of the tournament on Saturday.