SUNY Orange Colts win third straight Region XV title; Pacciarelli MVP

SUNY Orange edged SUNY Rockland 84-82 to win the 2025-26 NJCAA Region XV championship, securing the Colts their third consecutive Region XV crown on Sunday, March 1. A report accompanying the result asserts freshman Anthony Pacciarelli was named tournament MVP, a detail not yet confirmed in the game releases provided.

An Instagram post from the program called the final, "The SUNY Orange men's basketball team are your NJCAA Division II REGION 15 Champions after an absolute thriller against SUNY Rockland! Back-and-" suggesting a dramatic finish, but the full box score and play-by-play for the March 1 final were not included in the initial game summaries available to reporters.

SUNY Orange’s Feb. 16 conference victory over Rockland in Middletown, a separate game, offers recent full box detail: the Colts beat Rockland Community College 89-60, improving to 22-3 in that report. Sophomore Keishawn Morris, listed from Brooklyn South Shore, led that game with 28 points, five rebounds, six assists and seven steals, while freshman Anthony Pacciarelli, listed from Monroe St Joseph, added 23 points and eight rebounds. Team shooting that night was 33 of 72 (45.8 percent) for Orange versus 24 of 61 (39.3 percent) for Rockland, with rebounds 47-38 and assists 20-11.

Season-long production cited later in Trentonian coverage showed Pacciarelli averaging 26.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, Keishawn Morris 18.9 points per game, Torren Greene 16.2, Roman Frenklah 12.6 points and 5.8 rebounds, Drew Parrish 10.6 points, and Brandon McCain 14.1 points with a team-high 6.4 rebounds. Trentonian listed SUNY Orange at 22-8, a different snapshot than the Feb. 16 athletics release, reflecting the need to reconcile records across dates.

Regional context includes Mercer College, the Region 19 champion, which rallied from an 0-8 start to go 20-3 and finish 20-11, its first Region 19 title in 16 years. Joell Idrovo of Mercer averaged 19.7 points and 4.7 rebounds and was named Region Player of the Year and Region 19 Tournament MVP. Mercer coach Howard Levy said of Idrovo, "He’s unbelievable and a heck of a player, He comes through in the big moments. Whatever is needed he does and he does it well. He’s a pleasure to coach and a good student. He’s going to help a team somewhere, and no matter where he goes he’s going to make positive contributions." Levy invoked a coaching maxim: "The more you think of others the better it is for you. The less you think of yourself the better it’s going to be for yourself."

With the Region XV title secured, SUNY Orange advances to district-level play that will decide a berth in the national tournament, a matchup Trentonian set for 6 p.m. in Middletown involving Mercer and SUNY Orange. Verification of the March 1 final full box score, official MVP announcement for Pacciarelli, and the Colts’ final season record remain outstanding in the materials provided.