Call it “The Big Dance” or “March Madness”, but whatever one’s preference in terminology, the Region XIV Conference Basketball Tournament is here, and both Angelina College teams will get their shots at advancing to their respective national championships taking place later this month.
The conference tournament will run from Tuesday, March 7 through Saturday, March 11 at John Alexander Gymnasium in Jacksonville. The men’s opening round takes place on Tuesday, while the women will wait until Wednesday before tipping off.
AC’s Roadrunners will enter the men’s bracket as the sixth seed and will face Jacksonville College, a team with which the ‘Runners split the season series. AC beat the Jaguars 89-76 at home on Jan. 25 and lost in Jacksonville 79-72 on Feb. 18. The Roadrunner closed out the regular season with a win at Coastal Bend College on Saturday, with Isaiah Bailey’s 19 points leading the way in AC’s 80-79 win over the Cougars.
That win gave head coach Kyle Manary a 20-win season in his first year at the helm. AC finished the season 20-10, 12-7.
Jacksonville ended the regular season on a three-game losing streak, falling 65-64 in overtime to Blinn College on Saturday.
The winner of Tuesday’s game will face Trinity Valley College at 8 p.m. on Thursday.
The Lady Roadrunners (15-15, 8-12) square off against top-seeded and 12th-ranked Trinity Valley College at 1 p.m. on Wednesday. The Lady Cardinals swept the season series by nearly identical scores, taking a 77-42 win in Athens and a 79-42 win in Lufkin. The winner of that matchup will face the winner of the Tyler College/Blinn College game.
Tuesday’s men’s quarterfinals full schedule includes Lamar State College-Port Arthur vs. Blinn College at 1 p.m., Tyler College vs. Navarro College at 3 p.m., Paris College vs. Bossier Parish College at 6 p.m. and the Roadrunners vs. Jacksonville College at 8 p.m.
Wednesday’s women’s quarterfinals schedule includes the Lady Roadrunners vs. Trinity Valley College at 1 p.m., Tyler College vs. Blinn College at 3 p.m., San Jacinto College vs. Jacksonville College at 6 p.m. and Panola College vs. Kilgore College at 8 p.m.
Both the men’s and women’s championship games will take place on Saturday, March 11. The women’s finals tip off at 5:30 p.m., and the men’s finals follow at 8 p.m. Winner of the women’s title will advance to the national championships in Lubbock; the men’s winner will advance to the national championships in Hutchinson, Kansas. Both those tournaments run from March 20-25.
All Angelina College games will be available for live streaming. Visit www.angelina.edu and click on the Athletics link to catch all the game action.
The e-mail address for AC’s Sports Information Director is gstallard@angelina.edu.