Sunday, March 2, 2008

TUSCULUM MEN SEEDED FIFTH IN SAC TOURNAMENT, PIONEERS TRAVEL TO CATAWBA WEDNESDAY

ROCK HILL, S.C. --- The Tusculum College men’s basketball team will be the No. 5 seed in this year’s Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament and will travel to fourth-seeded Catawba College Wednesday night for a quarterfinal contest. That game will begin at 7 p.m. from Catawba’s Goodman Gym.

Tusculum (13-14, 6-8 SAC) finished fifth in the SAC regular season standings, while sweeping the season series over the Catawba Indians, including a 65-61 TC win last month in Salisbury, N.C. This will mark the fourth time Tusculum and Catawba have met in the SAC Tournament with the Pioneers winning two of the three previous postseason encounters. The lower seeded team in each of the three previous meetings has come out the winner.

Lenoir-Rhyne College, which shared the South Atlantic Conference championship, is the top seed in the Tournament.

The Bears (21-5 overall, 12-2 SAC) tied for the league title with Wingate University with 12-2 conference records. The teams split their two regular-season meetings, and both teams swept third-place Carson-Newman. Lenoir-Rhyne earned the tournament's top seed by sweeping fourth-place Catawba, while Wingate split their series with Catawba.

Lenoir-Rhyne will host eighth-seed Lincoln Memorial (8-19 overall, 1-13 SAC) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Wingate (22-5 overall, 12-2 SAC) will begin their quest to win their third straight Food Lion SAC Tournament title on Wednesday by hosting seventh-seed Newberry (12-15 overall, 5-9 SAC) at 8 p.m.

Carson-Newman College is the third seed after finishing 8-6 in the conference and 18-6 overall. The Eagles will host sixth-seed Mars Hill College (12-15 overall, 5-9 SAC) on Wednesday at 8 p.m.

Mars Hill and Newberry finished tied with 5-9 conference records and split their regular-season meetings. Mars Hill earned the sixth seed by virtue of its season-ending victory over top-seed Lenoir-Rhyne.

Quarterfinal winners advance to the tournament semifinals, which will be held at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, N.C. on Saturday.

Tickets for all tournament games are $6 per day for adults, $3 per day for children, students and college students with ID.

The men's and women's winners of the tournament will earn automatic bids to the NCAA Division II playoffs.

- SAC -

Wednesday, March 5
Food Lion SAC Tournament, Quarterfinals, Home of Higher Seed
No. 8 Lincoln Memorial at No. 1 Lenoir-Rhyne, 7 pm
No. 7 Newberry at No. 2 Wingate, 8 pm
No. 6 Mars Hill at No. 3 Carson-Newman, 8 pm
No. 5 Tusculum at No. 4 Catawba, 7 pm

Saturday, March 8
Food Lion SAC Tournament, Semifinals, CVCC Arena, Hickory, NC
Lincoln Memorial/Lenoir-Rhyne winner vs. Tusculum/Catawba winner, 1 pm
Newberry/Wingate winner vs. Mars Hill/Carson-Newman winner, 6 pm

Sunday, March 9
Food Lion SAC Tournament, Finals, CVCC Arena, Hickory, NC
Championship, 2 pm