PITTSBURGH, Pa. –  On Thursday night, Chatham Men's Basketball will appear in its fifth consecutive PAC Semifinal and seventh in the last eight seasons when the Cougars visit the North division's top seed Westminster for a 7 p.m. matchup.
 
With a win, defending champion Chatham will advance to its fourth PAC Championship game in the past five seasons, as first-year Head Coach Brian Baudinet has guided the Cougars to an 18-7 overall and 12-4 conference record. Chatham defeated #3 Grove City 69-60 at the Athletic and Fitness Center in Tuesday night's quarterfinal round. The Cougars have now won four consecutive games going into the contest.
 
Chatham's head basketball coach for the previous seven seasons, David Richards, will be on the opposing sidelines. Richards has led the Titans to an 18-8 overall and 12-4 PAC record in 2025-26 after Westminster finished ninth in the PAC last season with an 8-17 record. The Titans had not qualified for the PAC Tournament since 2022-23 and had not reached the semifinal round since 2021-22, with both runs ending in losses to the Cougars. Westminster defeated #4 South seed Saint Vincent 80-76 to reach the semifinal and is riding a five-game winning streak.

The Titans took the teams' only meeting of the season on Jan. 31 by a final score of 86-66 in New Wilmington. Nick Ryan led the scoring with 27 points and 13 rebounds in that contest. DJ Harrell added 17 points on 8-9 shooting, and Drew Weir had 9 points, 10 boards and 5 assists for Westminster. Senior Diaun Pinkett netted 23 points for Chatham, and senior Lovenson Xavier contributed 19 points and 7 rebounds for the Cougars.

Chatham ranks fifth in the PAC in scoring offense (79.5 points per game) and seventh in scoring defense (74.1 points allowed per game), while the Titans are sixth in the conference in scoring (77.9 PPG) and third in scoring defense (71.5 PAPG).

The Cougars' top scorer, Diaun Pinkett, is fifth in the PAC with 17.4 PPG, while Westminster's leading scorer DJ Harrell averages the second-most PPG in the conference with 20.2.

The winner of the Semifinal will meet the winner of W&J and Franciscan in the PAC Championship. Chatham would host the potential final with a Franciscan victory but would travel to W&J. A link to the bracket can be found here.
 
A fan shuttle will be available to any Chatham students who would like to make the trip to New Wilmington to attend the game, and will depart from the Athletic and Fitness Center Thursday at 5 p.m.
 
The winner of the PAC's Championship Tournament will receive the league's automatic qualifying bid to this year's Division III Championship Tournament. The selected Division III Championship teams, as well as the first and second round site selections, will be announced Monday, March 2nd. First and second round games are scheduled for Friday-Saturday, March 6-7.