Husson vs. St. Joseph’s.

It’s the phrase Maine small-college basketball fans wait to hear all season long. Wednesday night, the Braves and the Monks renew their intense basketball rivalry with a Maine Athletic Conference doubleheader at Newman Gym in Bangor.

Tonight’s games bring together the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the MAC men’s and women’s divisions.

Coach Kissy Walker’s second-seeded Husson women (14-9, 8-3 MAC) take on No. 1 St. Joseph’s (18-4, 9-1) at 5:30 p.m., with coach Warren Caruso’s top-seeded and 18th-ranked Husson men (18-4, 10-1) set to battle the No. 2 Monks (14-9, 8-2) in a 7:30 contest.

“It’s got to be one of the most fun games for the kids to play in because there is such a rivalry there,” Walker said. “Put Husson and St. Joe’s on the floor and usually nothing [records and statistics] matters.”

The St. Joseph’s women can clinch the MAC regular-season title and the No. 1 tournament seed with a win over Husson. Coach Mike McDevitt’s Monks beat Husson 88-78 on Jan. 25 at Standish.

The Braves are coming off Monday night’s disappointing 80-57 home loss to surging UMaine-Machias. Walker hopes tonight’s matchup will serve as motivation for her team.

“I think if we were to win the game, it would be a huge boost to our ego coming off this loss that we just had and heading into the playoffs,” Walker said. “I would love to see us start to show signs that we’re getting better and peaking.”

Husson’s balanced attack is led by Leslie Weed of Freedom, who is averaging 11.3 points per game. Leslie Trott of Brewer contributes 10.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.4 steals, while Hermon’s Liza Doughty chips in with 9.9 points and 5.5 assists per game.

Walker said rebounding and controlling the tempo are two keys against the Monks.

“We’re going to go right at them, but I think we have to be careful of the tempo because you can easily get caught up in a running game with them,” Walker said.

St. Joseph’s is paced by Stacey Gelinas (13.8 ppg, 5.2 apg), Sue Picard (12.5 ppg) and Carolyn Brown (11.2 ppg).

On the men’s side, Husson already has locked up the No. 1 tourney seed and a quarterfinal bye by virtue of two regular-season wins over St. Joseph’s, including a non-conference game in November’s Maine Event tourney.

For the Braves, tonight presents an opportunity to win the MAC regular-season crown outright and to maintain their position among the Top 20 NAIA Division II teams in the country.

“If we win, we win the regular-season conference championship. If they win, we share the title,” Caruso said. “We don’t want to lose a game because pretty soon if we lose a game, our season ends. The mentality of one-and-done is what we’ve been talking about.”

Husson is led by sharp-shooting guard Robert Pilsbury of Portland, who is averaging a league-high 24.4 points per game, including 89 3-pointers. Matt Breen of Rockland (11.3 ppg, 9.4 rpg) provides inside strength as does center Randy Fletcher (12.6 ppg, 8.5 rpg).

“Whoever controls the paint area is going to win the game, particularly where I think that’s their strength,” Caruso said. “When we played them down there, they outrebounded us, but we were still able to pull out a victory.”

St. Joseph’s, under veteran boss Rick Simonds, looks to C.J. Vose (19.6 ppg, 8.3 rpg), Leroy Gore (16.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg) and Travis Seaver (11.3 ppg) to set the pace.

Caruso expects a high-energy ballgame.

“No matter what the records are or what may or may not be at stake, it’s a game played at a high level of intensity in front of a big crowd.”