Sunshine State Conference Men’s Basketball Tourney Pairings Unveiled
ORLANDO, Fla. - The field is set for the 2013 Sunshine State Conference Men's Basketball Championship, which will be held March 6-10 at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Fla. Tampa will face Lynn in Wednesday's opening round contest.
Action will begin with an opening-round game at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday between No. 8 Lynn (11-15) and No. 9 Tampa (16-13). Each squad posted a 3-13 mark in league play, but Lynn gained the seeding advantage by sweeping UT in the teams' regular-season meetings.
The winner of Wednesday's game will advance to face top-seeded Saint Leo in Friday's men's quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m.
Saint Leo and Florida Southern shared the SSC's regular-season title, with both squads tallying a 12-4 conference record. Saint Leo (20-6 overall) gained the tiebreaker advantage and No. 1 seed by sweeping Southern (21-5) in the teams' regular-season series.
Having secured the No. 2 seed, Florida Southern will face No. 7 Barry (13-13, 6-10 SSC) at 5 p.m. on Friday.
Eckerd claimed the No. 3 seed with an 11-5 SSC record and a 19-6 overall slate. The Tritons will face off with sixth-seeded Nova Southeastern at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The Sharks tallied a 15-11 overall record and 7-9 conference mark.
No. 4 Florida Tech and No. 5 Rollins will tip off the men's quarterfinals at noon on Friday. Florida Tech (16-10) and Rollins (17-9) tied in the final regular-season standings with a 9-7 SSC record. The teams split their regular-season meetings. Tech earned the No. 4 seed by defeating No. 1 Saint Leo 76-50 on Feb. 16. The Tars were swept by the Lions.
All 16 games of the SSC Basketball Championships will be streamed live on sunshinestateconference.com. Live stats for each contest will also be made available on the SSC website via Stat Broadcast. Results and the tournament bracket will be updated daily on the "SSC Basketball Championship Central" page on sunshinestateconference.com.
Those wishing to attend the games in-person at Silver Spurs Arena can purchase tickets at the box office window. Single session tickets are $10 at the door. Students attending SSC institutions (with proper ID) and children under 6 will be admitted free of charge.
2013 SSC Men's Basketball Championship Schedule
Opening Round - Wednesday, March 6
Game 2 - 7:30 p.m. - No. 8 Lynn vs. No. 9 Tampa
Men's Quarterfinals - Friday, March 8
Game 7 - 12:00 p.m. - No. 4 Florida Tech vs. No. 5 Rollins
Game 8 - 2:30 p.m. - Game 1 Winner vs. No. 1 Saint Leo
Game 9 - 5:00 p.m. - No. 2 Florida Southern vs. No. 7 Barry
Game 10 - 7:30 p.m. - No. 3 Eckerd vs. No. 6 Nova Southeastern
Men's Semifinals - Saturday, March 9
Game 13 - 5:00 p.m. - Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner
Game 14 - 7:30 p.m. - Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner
Men's Final - Sunday, March 10
Men's Championship - 3:30 p.m. - Game 13 Winner vs. Game 14 Winner