INDIANAPOLIS --- The Tusculum College men's basketball dropped two spots and is listed ninth in this week's NCAA Division II Southeast rankings announced officials Wednesday.

The Pioneers (18-9) finished in a tie for second place in the South Atlantic Conference, their second-best showing since joining the league in 1999. Tusculum is the No. 3 seed in this week's Food Lion SAC Tournament and will host sixth-seed Wingate University Wednesday in a quarterfinal round match-up.

The top six teams in the region remain the same last week with Augusta State University, USC Aiken, Armstrong Atlantic State University, Georgia College & State University, Barton College and Lenoir-Rhyne University holding down the top six spots. Newberry College and Catawba College each jumped two spots to seventh and eighth. Tusculum is ninth, followed by Mount Olive College to round out the region poll.

Three automatic berths to next week's NCAA Tournament will be awarded to the tournament champions of the SAC, Peach Belt Conference and Conference Carolinas this weekend. Five at-large berths will also be awarded for the Southeast Regional. The announcement of the NCAA Tournament field will be made Sunday night on www.ncaa.com.

- NCAA -

NCAA II Men's Basketball Southeast Region Rankings
Rk. Team Prv.
1 Augusta State 1
2 USC Aiken 2
3 Armstrong Atlantic 3
4 Georgia College 4
5 Barton 5
6 Lenoir-Rhyne 6
7 Newberry 9
8 Catawba 10
9 TUSCULUM 7
10 Mount Olive 8