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LIONS PLAYING FOR EIGHTH
REGIONAL CROWN AND TRIP TO ELITE EIGHT TUESDAY
LAKELAND, Fla. -- The University
of North Alabama men's basketball team will be going for its eighth
regional championship and a trip to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight
Tuesday night when the Lions take on Benedict College in the South
Region Championship Game.
The game, set
for a 6 p.m. tipoff, pits the 26-8 Lions against a 28-4 Benedict
team that won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
regular season and post-season championships.
UNA defeated
Gulf South Conference foes Christian Brothers (72-71) and Ouachita
Baptist (99-93 OT) to advance to the championship game. Benedict,
located in Columbia, S.C., destroyed Sunshine State Conference
teams Eckerd (70-49) and Tampa (73-59) to advance.
North Alabama
has an all-time 7-1 record in regional championship games and has
won four of its previous regional titles on the road. UNA's only
previous loss in a regional final was to Washburn, 92-73, in
1993-94. The Lions have won previous regional championships in
1986-77, 1978-79, 1979-80, 1980-81, 1983-84, 1990-91 and 1995-96 and
went on to two National Championships in 1978-79 and 1990-91. UNA
won the 1978-79 regional in Lakeland on the way to their first
national championship.
The Lions are
29-10 all-time in NCAA Tournament play, while the Benedict Tigers
were 0-5 in NCAA Tournament play prior to this year's regional.
In it's win
over Ouachita Baptist on Sunday night, UNA agains used a balanced
attack with six players scoring in double-figures.
A win by UNA
over Benedict would send the Lions into the Elite Eight on March
26-29 in Springfield, Mass., to take on the winner of the Northeast
Region (Assumption vs. Bentley) in the quarterfinals.
The national
semifinals are set for March 27 and the National Championship Game
is March 29 and will be televised live by CBS beginning at 2:30
Eastern.
Seven teams that UNA played during the 2007-08 season were selected
for the NCAA Tournament and three of those have advanced to the
Sweet Sixteen. Clayton State is in the South Atlantic Region final,
Winona State is in the North Central final and Assumption is in the
Northeast final.
UNA senior Casey Holt of Culleoka, Tenn., needs just 13 points to
set a new North Alabama single- season scoring record. Dabbs Earnest
has held that mark since 1961-62 when he scored 625 points. Holt
currently has 613 this season and ranks 11th in UNA history in
career scoring with 1,193 points.
North Alabama's 26 wins this season ranks as the third most in
school history. The 1990-91 National Championship team went 29-4,
and the 1983-84 Lions that reached the Final Four went 27-7.
Bobby Champagne is the third different head coach to take UNA to the
NCAA Tournament. Bill Jones was 18-6 in six NCAA appearances, while
Gary Elliott was 9-3 in four NCAA trips. Champagne has led UNA to
two NCAA regionals and is now 2-1 in NCAA post-season play.
North Alabama won the Gulf South Conference East Division title this
season but did not win the GSC Tournament title. UNA also failed to
win the GSC championship in both of its previous National
Championship seasons in 1978-79 and 1990-91.
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