While most basketball fans all across the nation are filling out their brackets, entering office pools and focusing all their attention on the NCAA Tournament, some individuals are more concerned with another tournament that has an extra letter in its title.

That would be the NCCAA – National Christian College Athletic Association – Division I Tournament.

One such individual is Hampden native Jesse McCue. While most hoop fans are focusing on the select 64, the Palm Beach Atlantic University forward had already advanced to the Elite Eight.

The eighth-seeded PBAU Sailfish fell to top-ranked Christian Heritage College of El Cajon, Calif., 92-58 in an NCCAA quarterfinal at Frankfort, Ky., on Thursday. McCue shared team scoring honors with 10 points and grabbed four rebounds.

PBAU will play in a consolation-round game at 1 p.m. today against Oakland City (Ind.) College, which lost to Nyack (N.Y.) College 73-67 on Thursday.

These are uncharted waters for the 23-13 Sailfish, but McCue, one of the team’s primary navigators, has helped to steer a successful course.

“This is our first time going to a national tournament. It’s nice to feel like you’re making a difference in a program,” said McCue, who had a very similar experience as a senior at Hampden Academy when he helped get the Broncos into their first Eastern Maine Class A title game.

The Sailfish got in after upsetting top seed Emmanuel College 84-72 and winning the NCCAA South Regional last week. McCue had 34 total points in the regional.

McCue, 21, entered the round robin NCCAA tourney as PBA’s assists leader with 5.0 per game and third-leading scorer with 12.0 points. He’s also averaging 3.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game.

“His game is just maturing,” said PBA head coach Lyle Wells. “Last year, he was our best perimeter defender and it hurt him and us both to have him out there so much. This year, we’re more balanced, which allows us to free him up more offensively.”

The junior business management major came to PBA almost by accident. McCue suffered a fractured right ankle and damaged ligaments at the end of his senior year, so he opted for a year of prep school at The Winchendon (Mass.) School, where he recuperated and played. From there, he opted to head to the opposite coast and attend Menlo College in Atherton, Calif.

“I had kind of decided I wanted to go somewhere warm and far away from home,” said the second-oldest of five children. “I worked out with some New England area teams and had an offer to play at the University of Bridgeport and ended up going to California instead.”

He got quite a bit of playing time at Menlo, but decided to transfer to another school.

“The school was a little bit small for me and I was a couple days away from transferring to another school [Point Loma Nazarene University], but I ended up checking out Palm Beach Atlantic,” McCue said.

The Sailfish shooting guard said he got a good feeling about the school and Wells’ program and decided Florida was just as warm as California.

“He came in with his blonde hair and sandals and I’m thinking ‘Huh? A guy from Maine?’ If he’d been from Florida or California or New York, we would have been very interested, but he kind of came out of nowhere,” said Wells. “After we saw him play, we knew he was the kind of player we’re looking for. He’s the package.”

Maine baseball to play Niagara

The University of Maine baseball team will play three games against Niagara this weekend instead of the scheduled games against Rhode Island.

Poor field conditions at URI forced the cancellation of games set for Saturday and Sunday. The Black Bears will instead travel to Salisbury, Md., for two games Saturday and a single game Sunday. The doubleheader starts at noon, while Sunday’s game starts at 11 a.m.

UMaine is 7-7 and has won five of its previous six games going into the weekend. Niagara is 2-8.

Allen is classic all-star

Blue Hill’s Mandi Allen has been selected to play in the 22nd annual New England Women’s Basketball Assocation Senior All-Star Classic.

The 5-foot-7 senior guard for Plymouth State University is one of 24 seniors taking part in the game, which will tip off at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at PSU’s Foley Gymnasium.

Allen, a team co-captain, led the 10-16 Panthers in scoring after averaging 10.8 points and 5.0 rebounds per game this season.

Lacrosse game site changed

The University of Southern Maine men’s lacrosse team has changed the site of its season opener against Maine Maritime Academy. Saturday’s game will be played at the Mariners’ home field in Castine instead of USM’s Hodgdon Field in Gorham.

The move is the result of poor field conditions because of Tuesday’s snow storm.

Game time is still 4 p.m.