After finishing the regular season with new benchmarks, the SIU-Edwardsville men’s basketball team enters post-season play in quest of two additional entries into their ledger book.
A first-time Ohio Valley Conference title and inaugural entry to the NCAA’s version of “March Madness.”
(SIUE Cougars Official Facebook)
The Cougars (20-11) is the second seed at the OVC finale that launched Wednesday at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.
SIUE finished conference play 13-7 after topping Little Rock, 73-65, at their home finale this past Saturday. With the victory, the Cougars were automatically jettisoned to Friday’s OVC tourney semifinals.
For their first post-season game, SIUE will meet their yet-to-be determined opponent on Friday at 9:30 pm (live on ESPNU).
This weekend’s top-seed, Southeast Missouri (20-11), also received a double-bye to the semifinals after winning the OVC regular season standings with a 15-5 record.
The Cougars’ Saturday win over Little Rock resulted in the team’s first 20-win season in NCAA Division 1 play and the designation of OVC’s second seed is the highest entry point for the squad since entering the conference in 2010.
“We put ourselves into a position to have a game (this) Friday,” addressed SIUE coach Brian Barone of the team’s automatic placement into the tourney’s semifinal. “And then we would have the opportunity to play again Saturday.”
“We knew what was at stake,” reflected SIUE guard Ray’Sean Taylor following the eight-point duke. “We knew how this big of a game this was for the double-bye. We just wanted to go out, execute and win this game.”
Taylor – who claimed OVC Player of the Year honors this week – finished Saturday’s game with 11 points and tops the team with a 19.2 PPG average heading into Evansville.
The grad student from Collinsville, Illinois currently sits second in SIUE career scoring (1,897).
6-9 junior guard/forward Ring Malith paced Cougar scoring at the home finale with 21 points and currently averages 11.5 PPG heading into OVC post-season play. SIUE junior guard Brian Taylor II is also averaging double digits (12.3 PPG).
The missive is pretty clear-cut for SIUE this weekend: two straight wins and they’re in.
The OVC’s Saturday trophy game launches live at 8 p.m. on ESPN2.
Here is a look at the other teams currently competing at the OVC tourney (in order of seed):
1) Southeast Missouri (15-5 OVC, 20-11 Overall) – Considering SEMO finished last season 9-22, their overall rebound has been impressive. Rewind to January 23 and SEMO stood at 10-10 overall following a four-point road loss to Lindenwood. After that setback, the Redhawks rolled out a 10-game win streak, highlighted by their top-seed clinching victory (83-68) over the Cougars last Thursday. That effort was fumbled with their 15-point road loss two days later at Eastern Illinois, who failed to qualify.
With the top seed and double-bye, SEMO plays Friday at 7 pm and there is a potential of a meeting with #4 Little Rock, who split a tight pair of OVC games with them earlier this year. Guards Rob Martin (a junior from CBC) and Teddy Washington Jr. each possess a 14 PPG average heading into the post-season.
3) Tennessee State (12-8 OVC, 18-13 Overall) In an OVC seed tiebreaker, Tennessee State swept their games against Little Rock to claim the third seed. A 10-3 sprint in conference play certainly helped the Tigers’ cause. Dropped two-game series against both higher-seeded SEMO and SIUE but all games were extremely tight.
Tennessee State plays #6 Lindenwood in the quarterfinal round Thursday. The two squads split OVC games during the regular season. Could be a sleeper pick. Junior guard Brandon Weston tops the team with a 16 PPG average.
4) Little Rock (12-8 OVC, 18-13 Overall) The Trojans had a rough go of it the past few weeks, dropping four of their final six OVC games. Overall, the Trojans are a solid team and split their home-and-homes against top-seed SEMO. Very capable team with plenty of depth. In his farewell season for the team, six-foot guard KK Robinson tops team scoring (15.8 PPG).
Little Rock plays #8 UT-Martin in Thursday’s quarterfinal round. The Trojans swept the Skyhawks in OVC play during the regular season by narrow (+1) and wide (+18) margins.
6) Lindenwood (10-10 OVC Regular Season, 16-16 Overall) The Lions advanced to Thursday’s quarterfinal round after posting a 73-65 victory over #7 Morehead State in Wednesday’s opening qualifier. Junior guard Reggie Bass paced Lions’ scoring with 23 points (propelled by a perfect 17-17 from the free throw line!) This team does like to play spoiler. They’ve beaten both SEMO and SIUE in OVC play during the regular season.
8) University of Tennessee–Martin (9-11 OVC Regular Season, 14-18 Overall) – Coming into the post-season with the lowest seed, the scrappy Skyhawks upset #5 Tennessee Tech, 70-67, in Wednesday’s other qualifier. Junior guard Tarence Guinyard notched 18 points in the win.
By trade, he is a six-time, regional Emmy Award-winning news videographer/editor for KTVI/KPLR-TV. By hobby, he is a writer for Litehouse Media, dating back to February 2014. Emphasis is on featuring and promoting local women's sports, but will cover anything that is not reported by traditional media outlets. Also a contributor to local concert reviews. Finally, he prefers Diet Ski over coffee.
