SIAC next up; MEAC, SWAC in final week
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
Benedict's men and Tuske-gee's women are the top seeds and favorites as the SIAC tips off its 75th men's and 30th women's basketball tournaments at Fair Park Arena in Birmingham on Wed., March 5.
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Fred Watson's Benedict squad was a runaway winner of the regular season men's race taking the title by a whopping six games. The Tigers (20-2, 23-4) enter the tournament on a 12-game win streak and were ranked third in last week's NCAA Div. II South Region ranking. They will likely advance to regional play regardless of their finish in the tournament.
The deep and balanced Benedict team has five players averaging between 8.9 and 11.4 points per game with 6-1 junior guard Charles Gibbs topping the scoring chart. Six-seven junior forward Martinis Woody nearly averages a double-double pulling down a league-best 10.4 rebounds per game while scoring 9.8 per contest.
The Tigers have not lost since a 76-69 overtime decision to LeMoyne-Owen back on Jan. 26. They begin play Thursday at 3 p.m. vs. the winner of Wednesday's Kentucky State/Albany State game.
The Tuskegee women (18-8, 17-3) were not as dominant as Benedict's men but did win the regular season race by two games over Fort Valley State (18-9, 15-5). The Tigerettes are paced by 5-9 senior forward Crystal Benton's 17.4 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. Five-four senior guard 5-10 junior forward Aisha Johnson (14.3 ppg.) and Rishaundra Gartrell (10.3 ppg., 8.4 rpg.) also score in double figures. Tuskegee opens play Thursday at 1 p.m. vs. the Paine/Lane winner.
Both men's and women's teams are playing for the league's automatic berth into the South Region Tournament that goes to the SIAC tournament champion.
MEAC
Morgan State (men, 13-2, 19-9) and North Carolina A&T (women, 14-1, 22-6) have clinched the regular season titles and top seeds for next week's tournament in Raleigh, N.C., but there's still a little work to be done as the MEAC winds up play Thursday. Still to be decided are fifth-place teams for both men's and women's tournaments that will stay out of opening round games.
On the men's side, N.C. A&T and Florida A&M are tied at 8-7 for fifth place entering Thursday's finales. A&T hosts Norfolk State while FAMU hosts Bethune-Cookman. A&T has a win over FAMU but needs a win or a FAMU loss to secure the fifth seed.
On the women's side, Morgan State (vs. Coppin State) and UMES (vs. DelState) need wins or a Hampton loss (vs. Howard) to hold on to fourth and fifth place respectively.
SWAC
Only eight of the ten SWAC teams make it to the conference tournament in Birmingham next week and with two games left on the SWAC regular season schedule several teams will be jockeying for those final spots. For the men, Grambling State (7-9), Southern (7-9) and Texas Southern (6-10) hold down spots 6 thru 8 and will try to stay ahead of Alcorn State and Prairie View (both 5-11). Grambling has two tough road games at Alabama A&M and Alabama State. Southern has home dates with Texas Southern and Prairie View. After TSU travels to Southern it then travels to Alcorn State.
On the women's side, Texas Southern, Alabama State and Alcorn State are tied at 6-10 for the eighth spot with each having two games left. Southern (8-8), Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Mississippi Valley State (8-9) could also be caught up in a tie for the last spot. UAPB and MVSU play their final game on Thursday.
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