No. 3 seed SHSU plays Thursday night at 7:30
3/9/2014 7:33:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sam Houston will be the No. 3 seed in the 2014 Southland Conference men's basketball tournament this week at the Leonard E. Merrell Center in Katy.
The Bearkats draw a bye in the first round and play the winner of the McNeese versus Oral Roberts game on Thursday night (March 13) at 7:30 p.m.
Stephen F. Austin will be the top seed in the 2014. In the SFA half of the bracket are No. 4 seed Northwestern State, No. 5 seed Nicholls and No. 8 seed Southeastern Louisiana. The Colonels and Lions will open the tournament Wednesday at 5 p.m.
The winner of the Southeastern-Nicholls game will play No. 4 seed Northwestern State Thursday at 5 p.m.
On the other side of the bracket, Texas A&M-Corpus is the No. 2 seed. The first game on the Islanders' side of the bracket pits No. 6 seed Oral Roberts and No. 7 seed McNeese State. No. 3 seed Sam Houston State awaits the winner of the ORU-McNeese game for a second-round game Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
The Bearkats return to the tournament for the 12th consecutive year after going 21-9 overall and 13-5 in the Southland. Sam Houston has reached the championship game three times with titles in 2003 and 2010.
The first four games of the men's tournament will be streamed live for free on the Southland Conference Digital Network, including Southland.org and the league's iPhone and Android Apps available at southland.org/apps.
The semifinals will be available solely on ESPN3, while the championship game will be covered exclusively ESPN2 Saturday at 7:30 p.m. with the championship trophy presentation to be carried live on ESPN3.
The winner of the tournament will receive the Southland's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. The selection show is Sunday, March 16 at 5 p.m., CT, on CBS.
Tickets to the 2014 Southland Conference basketball tournament are available now online at www.gobearkats.com or by calling the SHSU ticket office at (936) 294-1729.
This is the seventh consecutive year for the event to be played in Katy. For complete information about the tournament, visit www.Southland.org/katy.
The complete men's tournament schedule:
Wednesday, March 12
Game 1: No. 8 Southeastern Louisiana vs. No. 5 Nicholls, 5 p.m. (SLCDN)
Game 2: No. 7 McNeese State vs. No. 6 Oral Roberts, 7:30 p.m. (SLCDN)
Thursday, March 13
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. No. 4 Northwestern State, 5 p.m. (SLCDN)
Game 4: Winner Game 2 vs. No. 3 Sam Houston State, 7:30 p.m. (SLCDN)
Friday, March 14
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. No. 1 Stephen F. Austin, 5 p.m. (ESPN3)
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. No. 2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN3)
Saturday, March 15
Championship Game, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
