2015 GSC Tournament Info

ROME, Ga. – They have experienced the ups and the downs associated with a long season and a rugged schedule, not to mention the toll it takes both physically and mentally.

On Tuesday night, however, the Shorter men's basketball team will embark on their first NCAA postseason journey where they wanted it to begin – on their own court when the No. 4-seeded Hawks host No. 5 seed Union for a 7 p.m. tipoff in the first round of the 2015 VisitSpaceCoast.com Gulf South Conference Basketball Championships.

"It has to matter for us," Shorter head coach Chad Warner said about the team's drive to earn the home-court advantage for the first round at the Winthrop-King Centre where the Hawks (18-10 overall) have posted a 10-3 record this season. "We need the fans and we need the support. We need every single edge we can get."

Having endured one of the most heated and most balanced seasons ever in the GSC, Warner knew before his team took the court last fall that Union's Bulldogs, who are 19-9 and like Shorter ended conference play with a 13-9 slate, would be a solid team when the regular season came to a close.

"The first game I saw this year was Union," said Warner, referring to the Bulldogs' appearance at Shorter's season-opening GSC/SIAC Challenge at WKC last November. "I knew then they would have a great year.

"They are very, very good," he added, "but we're two evenly-matched teams."

That's evident judging from the outcomes of the two games the team had against each other during the regular season.

In the first meeting in December in Rome, the first conference game of the year for both squads, Union emerged with a 91-85 decision as Marterrace Brock led the Bulldogs with a game-high 30 points while the Hawks – they were outscored 30-16 off the bench – got 21 points from Dedric Ware.

The outcome was reversed when Shorter made the trip to Union in January as the Hawks rolled to an 84-63 win – it came during the middle of a five-game win streak – in a game that saw Jordan Jacks produce 22 points and 16 rebounds and defensively limit the Bulldogs to a 33 percent shooting accuracy from the floor.

Coming off an overtime loss over the weekend to Lee, the Hawks will be focused on having the same kind of numbers and effort they came up with at Union when the two teams square off on Shorter's home ground.

Ware, who was named Monday to the All-GSC First Team, leads the Hawks averaging 19.3 points and 6.4 assists – both team bests – while Jacks, an All-GSC Second Team pick, is averaging 16.3 points and leads the squad with more than seven rebounds a night and a 57 percent shooting touch.

Kordario Fleming, who averages 11 points, is also accurate when he shoots the ball, hitting 55 percent of his shots, while Tyler Alderman averages 7.3 points.
Corieon Pearson, Union's All-GSC First Team selection, heads up the Bulldogs' attack averaging 18.5 points and four assists, while Brock has a 17.1 ppg mark.

The winner advances to the GSC tournament semifinals that will be held Friday at Samford University's Pete Hannah Center in Birmingham, Ala., where the conference championship game will be held on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

"At this point of the season, everyone is beat up," said Warner. "But this is the opportunity we've been playing for. I'm proud of this team and we're looking forward to playing this game."