BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. – The University of Tennessee Southern men's basketball team closed out the regular season with a 53-51 win over Blue Mountain Christian on Saturday. Adarion Hudson led all scorers with 20 points. Tad Sivley had a massive double-double with 12 points and 19 rebounds. UT Southern (24-4, 18-2) trailed by 13 just before the first media timeout, but closed the gap to lead at the half 31-30.

Blue Mountain Christian (12-16, 6-14), fighting for a berth in the SSAC Championship, once again began to pull away from the Firehawks leading 47-41 with 11 minutes to go. The Firehawks began to chip away at the Topper lead to trail by three with seven minutes left. UT Southern would hold the BMCU scoreless for the rest of the game. Sivley would net the winning basket with 0.9 left on the clock. UTS would outrebound BMCU 46-23.

SSAC CHAMPIONSHIP

The seeds and schedule are set for the 2024 SSAC Men's Basketball Championship, presented by Newk's Eatery. UT Southern locked up the No. 1 seed and 2024 SSAC Regular Season Championship. 

The four-day, single-elimination tournament will conclude with the title game Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CST. All games are being played at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl. Tickets are being sold online only and can be purchased at ssacsports.com/tickets. 

Seeds

1. UT Southern – 18-2

2. Stillman – 16-4

3. Life – 14-6

4. William Carey – 13-7

5. Mobile 13-7

6. Dalton State – 11-9

7. Loyola – 9-11

8. Thomas – 9-11

9. Faulkner – 9-11

10. Middle Georgia – 7-13

Tiebreakers

William Carey/Mobile | William Carey won the head-to-head battle 2-0 this season.

Loyola/Thomas/Faulkner | The teams split their head-to-head matchups. Then you find a common opponent that they all played, starting at the top of the standings. Loyola went 2-0 v. WCU, while others went 0-2. Then for Thomas/Faulkner, Thomas went 1-1 v. Mobile and Faulkner went 0-2.

Wednesday, Feb. 28 at the Multiplex

Game 1: Men         #7 Loyola vs. #10 Middle Georgia                      10:45 am

Game 2: Men         #8 Thomas vs. #9 Faulkner                               2:15 pm

Thursday, Feb. 29 at the Multiplex

Game 3: Men        #3 Life vs. #6 Dalton State                                  10:45 am

Game 4: Men        Winner of Game 1 vs. #2 Stillman                    2:15 pm

Game 5: Men         Winner of Game 2 vs. #1 UT Southern            6:15 pm

Game 6: Men         #4 William Carey vs. #5 Mobile                         9:45 pm

Friday, Mar. 1 at the Multiplex

Game 7: Men        Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4         3:00 pm

Game 8: Men        Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6         7:00 pm

Saturday, Mar. 2 at the Multiplex:

Championship Game:  Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 8      6:30 pm

NEXT UP

UT Southern will begin the SSAC Championship on Thursday, February 29^th, at 6:15 p.m. The Firehawks will meet the winner of eighth seed Thomas and ninth seed Faulkner. UTS swept Faulkner in the season series 81-74 in the Gump and 84-63 in Pulaski. Both Thomas and Mobile were not on Firehawks conference schedule this season.

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