#17 Men's Basketball 2/26/2020 2:40:00 PM

Tigers Hold at Sixth in Second Region Rankings

INDIANAPOLIS – Despite a tough road loss during last week's slate of games, the University of West Alabama men's basketball team held onto the sixth spot in the second NCAA Regional Rankings of the 2019-2020 season.

The Tigers (20-7) are now 17-7 against NCAA Division II and in-region opponents this season after a road win against West Georgia, but a loss to the third ranked team in the region Valdosta State (20-3 DII and in-region). VSU's win helped the team switch places with Lee (17-5) who fell to fourth in the ranking despite winning on the road at Union, 74-68.

Florida Southern continues to sit atop the poll with a 20-2 in region record and 23-2 mark against DII competition. FSC is currently the top team in the Sunshine State Conference.

Nova Southeastern (17-4) is second in the poll and second in the SSC, however the Sharks dropped a road game to Palm Beach Atlantic 78-77 before finishing the week with a win at Florida Tech. PBA (19-6 DII, 18-6 in-region) is fifth in the latest ranking. All three SSC held onto their spots from last week.

Embry-Riddle (16-9) moved up to the seventh spot while Alabama Huntsville (20-5) also moved up a spot to eighth. Barry (14-7 DII, 13-7 in-region) fell to the ninth spot despite winning both games last week. The Bucs will have a chance to change some minds of the Regional Committee with a contest against Nova Southeastern tonight in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Miles (19-3) is tenth in the rankings and has already clinched the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season championship. With no SIAC team in the top eight in the rankings, the winner of that conference tournament would likely be the eighth seed in the NCAA South Regional if the season were to end today.

There are still chances for movement in these rankings as Lee and UAH will meet on Feb. 29. On that same day, Nova and Palm Beach Atlantic will play each other.

West Alabama wraps the regular season at home Saturday against Mississippi College. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. in Pruitt Hall Gymnasium.

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