CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The twentieth ranked Queens University of Charlotte men's basketball team will lock into battle against the Wingate Bulldogs on Saturday, March 5th, in the semifinal round of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament in Greenville, S.C.
This is the second time that the Royals have made the SAC Tournament semifinal round since joining the conference three years ago. The first appearance came last year as Queens knocked out Wingate in the quarterfinals and fell to Lincoln Memorial by only three points, 67-64. For the Bulldogs, this is their first appearance in the semifinal round since the 2012-13 season when they won the conference tournament.
Queens advanced in the tournament after they took care of the Catawba Indians at home by the score of 96-86 on Wednesday, March 2nd. The Royals would hold a lead as large as 22 points in the game as
Rob Lewis connected on five three pointers en route to a 22 point night. Guard
Marquis Rankin tied a career high with nine assists in the game and was second on the team in scoring with 15 points. The win took the 20th ranked Royals season overall record to 24-5.
Saturday's game will set up the third meeting this season between the two schools, with each team taking the home game. The two rivals would first meet in late January, as Wingate would upset the Royals by the score of 71-70. The Bulldogs held the Royals to their second lowest scoring output of the year and only allowed them to shoot 40 percent from the field in the game. Lewis led the Royals in scoring as he has 19 points on 6-of-17 shooting in the game to go along with five rebounds.
The story would be much different weeks later, when Wingate travelled to Curry Arena, as the Royals would tame the Bulldogs by the score of 91-75. Queens scored 44 of their points in the paint, scored 22 points off of turnovers, and shot 54.2 percent from the field. The lead would grow to as large as 23 points in the game as
Sean Morgan had a near perfect outing, scoring 24 points on 8-of-8 shooting from the field and 8-of-9 shooting from the charity stripe.
Queens has been led in scoring this season by Lewis and Morgan with the former averaging 18.7 points per game and the latter with 17.8 points per game placing them in 6th and 7th place in the SAC in scoring. Morgan's scoring this season has been very efficient, as he has knocked down 69.7 percent of his shots, which is the second best in the NCAA.
Daniel Camps is the team's best rebounder as he gathers in 7.1 rebounds per game and is always on the lookout for a put back dunk.
The Bulldogs have been led this season by Isiah Cureton's 14.1 points per game on 46.4 percent shooting from the field. Cureton is also the teams leader in steals with 1.6 per game and is tied with Mike Baez for the most rebounds per game with 6.1. Along with being tied for the most rebounds per game, Baez is Wingate's second leading scorer at 13.0 points per game.
The winner of Saturday's game will advance to the SAC Tournament Championship on Sunday, March 6th at 4:00 p.m. and will play the winner of the Lincoln Memorial/Newberry game. The Royals swept the regular season series with Newberry but would fall in both games to Lincoln Memorial.
Saturday's semifinal matchup between the Royals and Bulldogs will tip off at 8:00 p.m. at Timmons Arena in Greenville, S.C.
