McNeese Basketball SLC tournament on Thursday
Issue date: 3/12/07 Section: Sports
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McNeese State's Cowboys will make their 22nd appearance in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Southland Conference basketball tournament on Thursday.
The Cowboys, seeded fourth in the event, will tackle Texas-Arlington, a team that posted an earlier victory over McNeese.
The two teams will play at 8:30 p.m. at the Campbell Center in Houston in one of four first round games on Thursday. Other opening matchups have No. 2 seed Sam Houston State playing Lamar at noone, No. 3 seed Northwestern State meeting Stephen F. Austin at 2:30 p.m. and No. 1 seed TAM-Corpus Christi playing Southeastern Louisiana.
"UTA will be a tough opponent," McNeese head coach Dave Simmons said. "They have good size and quickness and play a lot of people. I think that we are ready to play. We've had some good practice sessions."
The two teams played only once this season and that came in Lake Charles with UTA posting a 52-46 victory. However, the Cowboys did not have the services of 6-6 Quentin Gonzales in that game.
Gonzales who is averaging 10.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, had to sit out the contest after having been ejected from a previous outing.
Simmons said that having Gonzales in this game should make a difference.
The Cowboys have won their last two games and five of their last six.
Jarvis Bradley, a second team all-SLC pick this year, leads the squad in scoring and rebounding with averages of 14.5 and 7.4, respectively.
Point guard John Ford is the second leading scorer with an 11.9 average and he also paces the team in assists with 3.1 per game.
Others slated to be in the starting lineup on Thursday are Troy Aaron, John Pichon and Kleon Penn.
Aaron has had two big games for the Cowboys, scoring a team high 24 points in victory over Nicholls State. The 6-5 Pichon picked off 17 rebounds in that game. The 6-11 Penn leads the Cowboys in blocked shots.
UTA's top player is forward Jermaine Griffin, a first team all-SLC pick who leads the team in scoring with a 13.4 mark and in rebounding with a 7.0 average.
In the last two years McNeese has bowed out of the tournament in a first round game. The Cowboys are 17-19 in tournament games and won the tournament in 1989 and in 2002.
The Cowboys, seeded fourth in the event, will tackle Texas-Arlington, a team that posted an earlier victory over McNeese.
The two teams will play at 8:30 p.m. at the Campbell Center in Houston in one of four first round games on Thursday. Other opening matchups have No. 2 seed Sam Houston State playing Lamar at noone, No. 3 seed Northwestern State meeting Stephen F. Austin at 2:30 p.m. and No. 1 seed TAM-Corpus Christi playing Southeastern Louisiana.
"UTA will be a tough opponent," McNeese head coach Dave Simmons said. "They have good size and quickness and play a lot of people. I think that we are ready to play. We've had some good practice sessions."
The two teams played only once this season and that came in Lake Charles with UTA posting a 52-46 victory. However, the Cowboys did not have the services of 6-6 Quentin Gonzales in that game.
Gonzales who is averaging 10.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, had to sit out the contest after having been ejected from a previous outing.
Simmons said that having Gonzales in this game should make a difference.
The Cowboys have won their last two games and five of their last six.
Jarvis Bradley, a second team all-SLC pick this year, leads the squad in scoring and rebounding with averages of 14.5 and 7.4, respectively.
Point guard John Ford is the second leading scorer with an 11.9 average and he also paces the team in assists with 3.1 per game.
Others slated to be in the starting lineup on Thursday are Troy Aaron, John Pichon and Kleon Penn.
Aaron has had two big games for the Cowboys, scoring a team high 24 points in victory over Nicholls State. The 6-5 Pichon picked off 17 rebounds in that game. The 6-11 Penn leads the Cowboys in blocked shots.
UTA's top player is forward Jermaine Griffin, a first team all-SLC pick who leads the team in scoring with a 13.4 mark and in rebounding with a 7.0 average.
In the last two years McNeese has bowed out of the tournament in a first round game. The Cowboys are 17-19 in tournament games and won the tournament in 1989 and in 2002.
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