FRISCO – UTSA will enter the State Farm Southland Conference Tournament as the No. 6 seed and will face third-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the opening round at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Merrell Center in Katy.
The Roadrunners improved to 19-10 overall and finished the league slate in a tie with Texas State for third place in the West Division and fifth place in the overall Southland standings at 9-7 after edging Stephen F. Austin, 65-63, on Saturday night in Nacogdoches.
The Islanders, 16-14 overall, finished second in the West and tied with Southeastern Louisiana for third in the league at 10-6. The two teams split their season series, with UTSA recording a 57-56 win on Feb. 17 in Corpus Christi after dropping a 66-62 overtime decision on Jan. 23 at home.
The winner advances to face either No. 2 seed Stephen F. Austin or No. 7 UT Arlington – who play the first game at noon Wednesday – at 6 p.m. on Thursday in the semifnals.
The other side of the bracket includes Southland Regular Season Champion Sam Houston State versus No. 8 Nicholls at 6 p.m. and No. 4 Southeastern Louisiana against fifth-seeded Texas State at 8:30 p.m.
This marks the third straight appearance for UTSA in the conference tournament and the Roadrunners will be the six seed for the second consecutive year. Last March, UTSA defeated No. 3 seed Sam Houston State, 83-74, and second-seeded Nicholls, 57-55, to advance to its first championship game since winning the 2004 tournament. Top seed Stephen F. Austin outlasted the Roadrunners, 68-57, in the final and earned the circuit's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
All opening-round games can be seen for free online through SLC NOW at southland.org.
The semifinal games will be played at 6 and 8:30 p.m. on Thursday and those games will be televised by the Southland TV Network (check local listings). The championship game is slated for 3 p.m. Saturday and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
For ticket information, please contact the UTSA Ticket Office at (210) 458-UTSA (8872).
For complete tournament information, click here.
