Basketball Men Make SAC Tournament

Thanks to a 75-73 win Saturday against Southern Nazarene, the USAO men’s basketball team qualified for the 2005 Joe Cooper Ford of Shawnee Sooner Athletic Conference tournament. The 16-team event – eight men and eight women – runs March 3-8 at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee.

The Drovers are scheduled to face No. 1 Oklahoma Christian at 6 p.m. Thursday inside OBU’s Noble Complex. With a win, USAO would move on to face the winner of No. 4 Oklahoma City and No. 5 Northwestern at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Following Saturday’s victory, USAO ended the regular season at 10-18 overall and 7-11 in the SAC. The Drovers finished tied for seventh with St. Gregory’s in the SAC standings, but USAO was named the eighth seed after losing the tiebreaker. 

Other games Thursday include No. 2 Lubbock Christian against No. 7 St. Gregory’s at 2 p.m., and No. 3 John Brown takes on host-team No. 6 Oklahoma Baptist. The winners face off in the first semifinal game at 1 p.m. Saturday. The championship game is set for 7:30 p.m. March 7.

Because of a 72-66 loss to No. 12 Southern Nazarene on Saturday, the USAO women didn’t qualify for the postseason tournament. The Drovers finished the season 10-19 overall and 4-14 in the SAC. They finished one game out of the eighth spot, behind St. Gregory’s and two games ahead of last-place Northwestern.

The women’s SAC quarterfinals on Friday include No. 1 Oklahoma City against No. 8 St. Gregory’s at 2 p.m., No. 2 Oklahoma Christian vs. No. 7 John Brown at 4 p.m., No. 4 Oklahoma Baptist vs. No. 5 Lubbock Christian at 6 p.m., and No. 3 Southern Nazarene vs. No. 6 Wayland Baptist.

The semifinals are scheduled for 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday, with championship game at 7:30 p.m. March 8.

Men's SAC Tournament Bracket