Toledo Visits Saturday at 2 p.m.
2/17/2012 9:13:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sam Houston, winners of three of their last four games, brings an 11-15 mark into the contest. Toledo stands 12-14 for the year. The Rockets have won two of their last three contests.
Six Southland teams will play at home and six will be on the road Saturday. In total, 142 teams will play 71 games in this year's BracketBusters event. The 10th annual event features teams from 16 conferences, the largest pool in the event's history and includes two teams that reached last year's Final Four.
The complete list of Southland Conference BracketBusters games Saturday:
Toledo at Sam Houston St., 2 p.m.
Campbell at Northwestern St., 2:30 p.m.
Lamar at George Mason, 3 p.m. (ESPN3)
Southeast Missouri St. at McNeese St., 3 p.m.
Central Arkansas at Louisiana Tech, 3:30 p.m.
IUPUI at Nicholls St., 3:30 p.m.
Tennessee-Martin at Southeastern La., 6 p.m.
High Point at Stephen F. Austin, 6 p.m.
UTSA at Georgia St., 6 p.m.
A&M-Corpus Christi at Central Michigan, 6 p.m.
UT Arlington at Weber State, 7 p.m. (ESPN3)
Texas State at South Dakota, 7 p.m.
Three Southland Conference teams have previously participated in four BracketBusters games. Northwestern State has played in two BracketBusters matchups and rode its first appearance in 2006 at Utah State to a first-round upset over Iowa in the NCAA tournament. The Demons also met Tennessee Tech in a BracketBusters game. Stephen F. Austin also played in 2006 and Sam Houston State played in 2007. While the conference is winless in its four previous BracketBusters games, which have all been played on the road, the league won all four of the guaranteed return games.
The 2012 Southland race resumes Wednesday night with Sam Houston heading to Northwestern State for another important league showdown. The goal for each Southland team is to finish among the top eight in the final regular season standings and earn a post-season tournament berth.
The 2012 Southland Conference Basketball Tournament returns to the Leonard E. Merrell Center in Katy, Texas. This will be the fifth consecutive year for the tournament to be held in Katy. This year's tournament will begin on Wednesday, March 7 with quarterfinal action begin at noon. The semifinals, which will be televised by the Southland Conference Television Network, will take place on Thursday, March 8 and the championship game will be played Saturday, March 10 with a 2 p.m. tipoff and be televised by ESPN2. The 2012 tournament will be the 13th in league history to be played at a neutral site. The tournament was played in Shreveport, La., from 1995-2001 and was held in Houston in 2007 before moving to Katy in 2008.
Tickets for the 2012 Southland Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament, which will be held March 6-10, at the Leonard E. Merrell Center in Katy, Texas, are now on sale. Reserved all-tournament passes are available for $75, while general admission all-tournament passes are available for $60. Call the Sam Houston State ticket office at (936) 294-1729 for more information.
Sam Houston State, just two years removed for an NCAA tournament appearance in 2010, will play host to Toledo out of the Mid-American Conference.
Konner Tucker is leading a group of four Bearkat players in double figures with 12.1 points per game. Steven Werner (10.9), DeMarcus Gatlin (10.4) and Marcus James (10.0) are also averaging in double figures. The quartet is also scoring in double figures in league action, paced by Tucker's 13.2 points per game. Gatlin (11.6), Werner (11.2) and James (10.9) all have better averages in league play.
James is the team's leading rebounder, averaging 7.0 per game, which ranks seventh in the Southland. Sam Houston State has the second-best scoring defense, allowing just 61.1 points per game.
Toledo also puts four players on the floor with double figure scoring averages.
Rian Pearson, a 6-4 guard, leads the team with 16.8 points per game. Other double figure Rocket leaders are 6-5 Curtis Dennis (12.8), 5-10 Julius Brown (11.5) and 6-2 Dominique Buckley (10.2).
KSAM 101.7 FM will carry the game live on radio in the Huntsville/Walker County area and on the internet. The game also will be streamed live on www.gobearkats.com . Tickets are available online.
