Cats Fall at UT Southern in Regular Season Finale
Cats Fall at UT Southern in Regular Season Finale
PULASKI, Tenn. – The Bethel Wildcats dropped an 87-68 road decision at UT Southern Saturday afternoon. With the loss, the Wildcats fell to 14-13 overall and 10-12 in the MSC. UTS moved to 17-10 and 13-9.
The Firehawks led 46-40 at the half and outscored the Wildcats 41-28 in the second half to secure the victory.
Querrion Gadson led Bethel with 14 points. Connor Guthrie had 12 for the Wildcats.
Adarion Hudson and Kendall Wright led UTS with 18 points each.
Bethel shot 45 percent and connected on six three-pointers. The Cats hit six of ten free throw attempts.
UTS had a 32-29 rebound margin.
The Hawks shot 54 percent and hit eight treys. UTS was 13-of-17 from the free throw line.
Both squads struggled with turnovers. Bethel had 24 turnovers while UTS had 17 in the game.
The Wildcats finished as the 8th seed and will face ninth-seeded Cumberland (Tenn.) Tuesday in Crisp Arena in the MSC Tournament.
Mid-South Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Bracket Released
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Mid-South Conference officials released the 2023 MSC Men's Basketball Tournament bracket Saturday following the conclusion of the conference's regular season.
The 2023 tournament features opening-round games at on-campus sites with the winners of those games joining the top-four seeds in Bowling Green for the remainder of the tournament.
Opening-round games are slated for Tuesday, Feb. 21 at the higher-seeded team. The quarterfinals are scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 25 with the semifinals slated for Sunday, Feb. 26. The championship game is Monday, Feb. 27. The quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals are all played at Bowling Green Arena.
Georgetown (Ky.) is the tournament's top seed after winning the regular season with an 18-4 conference record. As the MSC's regular-season champion, the Tigers earn one of the conference's two automatic bids into the NAIA National Tournament in March.
Freed-Hardeman (16-6 in the MSC) is the second seed in the tournament while Thomas More (Ky.) (15-7) and Shawnee State (Ohio) (13-9) are the third and fourth seeds, respectively.
Fifth-seeded Pikeville (Ky.) (13-9) hosts No. 12-seed Wilberforce (Ohio) (2-20) in the first of four opening-round games while sixth-seeded Tennessee Southern (13-9) hosts No. 11-seed Lindsey Wilson (6-16).
Shawnee State earned the higher seed over Pikeville and Tennessee Southern based on the conference's second tiebreaker -- the three teams split during the regular season. Tennessee Southern was 0-2 against Georgetown while Pikeville and Shawnee State were both 1-1. Continuing with the tiebreaker, both Shawnee and Pikeville were 1-1 against Freed-Hardeman and Thomas More. Shawnee State had a victory over Cumberlands while Pikeville suffered two losses to the Patriots. Using the same tiebreaker, Pikeville earned the five seed due to having the one win over Georgetown.
No. 7-seed Cumberlands (Ky.) (11-11) hosts No. 10-seed Campbellsville (Ky.) (6-16) while No. 8-seed Bethel (Tenn.) (10-12) hosts ninth-seeded Cumberland (Tenn.) (9-13).
The four opening-round winners advance to the next Saturday's quarterfinals.
The tournament champion receives one of the conference's two automatic bids into the NAIA National Tournament. If Georgetown wins the tournament, the tournament's runner-up receives the second automatic bid.
Watch for Game Notes on Tuesday's game later at www.bethelathletics.com
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