 |  |
Hawks, Lady Hawks learn respective SSAC Tournament draws
ATLANTA -- The Southern States Athletic
Conference has released the field and seedings for the Fuddruckers
Southern States Athletic Conference Basketball Championships
presented by Floyd County slated for March 2-5 at The Forum in
downtown Rome.
The entire men's tournament will take place at The Forum while Wednesday's women's opening round and Thursday's women's quarterfinals will be held at the Darlington School.
Shorter's Hawks occupy the No. 4 seed out of the SSAC's East Division while the Lady Hawks enter the tournament as the East's No. 3 seed.
The Hawks (23-7) will participate in Wednesday's opening round and will take on Faulkner University, the No. 5 seed out of the SSAC West Division, at 2 p.m. at The Forum.
Shorter finds itself on the proverbial bubble despite securing its first 20-win season since 1997-98. The Hawks, who have one Top 25 win this season -- a 77-76 victory over then No. 15-ranked Lee University at home -- can snag an automatic bid into the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship by advancing to the SSAC Tournament championship game.
The Eagles, a longtime SSAC rival of the Hawks before being aligned in the West Division after the conference expansion, enter tournament play with an 11-18 overall record. Faulkner clinched a postseason berth by winning its last three games of the regular season -- all by one point.
The Eagles' 68-67 win over Auburn University-Montgomery on the final day of the regular season punched their ticket to Rome -- Faulkner finished one game ahead of the Senators for the West's fifth and final seed.
If the Hawks win on Wednesday, they would advance to Thursday night's 8 p.m. quarterfinal against the West Division No. 1 seed William Carey University (18-11), to whom Shorter dropped a 78-68 decision in Hattiesburg, Miss., way back on Dec. 16. That loss was the Hawks' first of the season and snapped a 10-game winning streak.
On the women's side, the Lady Hawks (24-6) are in great position to obtain an at-large bid into the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship, but must win a few games in the SSAC Tournament to ease any doubts.
Shorter is ranked 25th in the latest NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll -- the Lady Hawks were third in the receiving votes category last season when they received an at-large bid into the national tournament -- and have posted 24 victories, the most for the Lady Hawks during their unprecedented stretch of four straight 20-win season.
The Lady Hawks will open tournament play on Thursday, March 3 at Darlington School against the West Division's No. 2 seed Loyola University-New Orleans (18-11) at 3 p.m.
Loyola enters the tournament after going 6-6 in West Division play. The Wolfpack have also lost three of their last four and seven of their last 12.
Should Shorter beat the Wolfpack, it would advance to the semifinals and face the winner of East top-seed and No. 13-ranked Lee University (24-5) and the play-in game survivor between West No. 4 William Carey (11-14) and East No. 5 Emmanuel College (13-16). That semifinal would take place at 2 p.m. on Friday, March 3 at The Forum.
The SSAC Tournament pairings and schedules are provided below:
Men's Tournament
Wednesday, March 2 at The Forum
Game 1: West #4 Loyola (14-13) vs. East #5 Brewton-Parker (10-14) -- 12 pm
Game 2: East #4 Shorter (23-7) vs. West #5 Faulkner (11-18) -- 2 pm
Thursday, March 3 at The Forum
Game 3: West #2 Mobile (15-13) vs. East #3 Southern Poly (21-8) -- 2 pm
Game 4: East #1 Lee (22-7) vs. Winner Game 1 -- 4 pm
Game 5: East #2 Emmanuel (23-7) vs. West #3 Belhaven (16-14) -- 6 pm
Game 6: West #1 William Carey (18-11) vs. Game 2 Winner -- 8 pm
Friday, March 4 at The Forum
Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 -- 4 pm
Game 8: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 -- 8 pm
Saturday, March 5 at The Forum
Championship Game: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 -- 7:30 pm
Women's Tournament
Wednesday,
March 2 at Darlington School
Game 1: West #4 William Carey (11-14) vs. East #5 Emmanuel (16-13) -- 12 pm
Game 2: East #4 Southern Wesleyan (20-9) vs. West #5 Mobile (16-10) -- 2 pm
Thursday,
March 3 at Darlington School
Game 3: East #1 Lee (24-5) vs. Winner Game 1 -- 1 pm
Game 4: West #2 Loyola (18-11) vs. East #3 Shorter (24-6) -- 3 pm
Game 5: East #2 Southern Poly (26-4) vs. West #3 Faulkner (20-9) -- 5 pm
Game 6: West #1 Belhaven (23-7) vs. Game 2 Winner -- 7 pm
Friday, March 4 at The Forum
Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 -- 2 pm
Game 8: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 -- 6 pm
Saturday, March 5 at The Forum
Third Place Game (if necessary): Loser Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8 -- 2:30 pm
Championship Game: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 -- 5 pm
