CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Queens University of Charlotte men's basketball team finished in second place in the final South Atlantic Conference standings with a 17-5 conference record and 23-5 record overall, giving them the opportunity to host the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament on Wednesday, March 2nd, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. in the Levine Center. The Royals will welcome the Catawba Indians, who ended the regular season with a 10-12 conference record and 12-16 overall record, placing them in the seventh position in the final South Atlantic Conference standings. The winner will move on to play in a conference semi-final game in Greenville, S.C. on Saturday, March 5th.
 
This will mark the third meeting between these two schools this season as the Royals swept the Indians in their previous two matchups, the first by the score of 94-79 on January 6th, and the second by the score of 95-77 on February 17th. In their first meeting, Queens caused 19 Catawba turnovers, resulting in 28 points off of those turnovers, and shot 10-of-20 from beyond the arc. Rob Lewis led the Royals in scoring as he added a game-high 20 points on the evening. In the second clash between the two, the Royals shut down the Indians offense, only allowing them to shoot 36.5 percent from the field and 7-of-27 from three-point range. The scoring combo of Lewis and Marquis Rankin accounted for 48 of the Royals 95 points scored in the game.
 
The Royals are reeling a bit as they come into the quarterfinal game riding a three game losing streak after falling on the road at Tusculum in double overtime by the score of 96-89 on Saturday, February 27th. In the upset, the Royals would make it to the free throw line 38 times but could only connect on 26 of them and struggled to shoot the ball from long range as they hit only 5-of-24 three pointers. A positive from the game was that five Royals scored double figures in the game, led by Lewis' 19 points, while another player was one point short as Daniel Camps added nine points to go along with his game-high 13 rebounds.
 
Despite their current slide, the Royals are one of the most dangerous teams in the country as the are ranked sixth in the nation in field goal percentage, hitting 50.8 percent of their field goal attempts and are 15th in scoring offense, averaging 87.8 points per game. Individually, Sean Morgan is the second most efficient shooter in the country as he has knocked down 69.7 percent of his shots so far this season and is averaging 17.8 points per game. In addition to Morgan, the Royals have four other players scoring double-digit points in Lewis (18.6), Rankin (12.6), Camps (11.5), and Withers (10.0).
 
Catawba enters the game after having a two game winning streak broken by the SAC regular season champions Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, February 27th by the score of 95-73. The Indians offense would grow stale in the second half as they were 0-of-7 from three point range and shot 33.3 percent overall. Jameel Taylor scored 20 points in the game, as he was one of three Catawba players to score in double figures.
 
Jameel Taylor is the top point scorer this season for the Indians as he is averaging 17 points per game on 49 percent shooting. A good bit of Taylor's damage is done from behind the arc as he has knocked down a team-leading 42 three pointers this season. Jerrin Morrison is the only other Catawba player to average double figure points this season as he adds in 12.7 points per game. As a team, Catawba is shooting 43.2 percent from the field and 34.9 percent from three-point range while allowing their opponents to shoot 44.4 percent from the field and 32.8 percent from beyond the arc.
 
Wednesday's quarterfinal matchup between the Royals and Indians is set to tip off at 7:00 p.m. in Curry Arena.