Men's Basketball

March 2, 2009

Tigers to Host First and Second Round Playoff Games

San Antonio - The Trinity University Tigers will host the first two rounds of the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Tournament in Sams Gym.

Trinity (23-4), led by 10th-year head coach Pat Cunningham, will take on the Maryville College (Tenn.) Scots (20-6) at 7 p.m. Thursday in the opening round. The winner will then play the Texas-Dallas Comets (24-4) at 7 p.m. Saturday. UT-Dallas received a first-round bye in the 60-team national tournament.

Tickets are priced at $6 general admission, and $3 for students of the participating teams, and seniors (age 55 and over). Children age 2 and under will be admitted free. The doors to Sams Gym will open at 5:30 p.m. each day.

The Tigers, who received an at-large bid, are competing in their seventh NCAA tournament, and the sixth  under coach Cunningham, who joined the Tiger staff in the fall of 1999. Trinity last qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2006, and lost 83-64 to Maryville in the first round at Clinton, Miss. In 2005, Trinity advanced to the NCAA “Elite Eight.”

Trinity advanced to last weekend’s Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Tournament semifinals, at Conway, Ark. The Tigers, seeded No. 1 in the SCAC West Division, beat the University of the South-Sewanee 53-52 in overtime – on a buzzer-beater – in the first round. Southwestern, the No. 3 team in the West, upset Trinity 68-63 in the semifinals.

Maryville is competing in its 11^th consecutive NCAA tournament and 16^th overall. In 2000 and 20004, Maryville reached the NCAA “Sweet 16.” The Scots lost 80-72 in last year’s first round to Millsaps, also a member of the SCAC. Maryville captured its third straight Great South Athletic Conference title with a 101-89 victory over Huntingdon College.

UT-Dallas, one of four teams to receive a first-round bye, is playing in its second NCAA tournament. The Comets, who last competed in 2005, won the American Southwest Conference championship with an 82-75 victory over Mississippi College.

The sectionals are slated for March 13 and 14 at a site to be determined. The semifinals and championship game will be played March 20 and 21 at Salem, Va.