ROCK HILL, S.C. --- The Tusculum College men's basketball team will be the second seed in the 2010 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament and will host No. 7 seed Carson-Newman College this Wednesday in a quarterfinal match at Pioneer Arena. (Printable Bracket)

The game will tip-off at 8 p.m., following the Tusculum, Catawba women's tournament quarterfinal contest that begins at 6 p.m.

The winner of Wednesday's Tusculum, Carson-Newman game will advance to Hickory, N.C. for Saturday's semifinal round and will face either No. 3 seed Brevard College or No. 6 Wingate University.

Tusculum and Carson-Newman split its two regular-season meetings. The Eagles (10-17, 5-11 SAC) won 62-58 on Jan. 16th in Greeneville. Tusculum answered with a 77-51 victory at Carson-Newman earlier this month.

Wednesday's encounter will mark the third time the Pioneers and Eagles have met in the SAC Tournament. In 2002, top-seeded Carson-Newman defeated Tusculum 88-51 in the semifinal round in Hickory. The last time the two East Tennessee rivals met in the SAC Tournament was in 2005 as TC defeated the Eagles 93-76 in Greeneville in a quarterfinal match-up. Tusculum parlayed that victory to its first SAC Tournament title.

Catawba College earned the top seed for this year's tournament by claiming the 2009-10 SAC Championship with an 11-5 league record. Catawba will host No. 8 seed Newberry College on Wednesday.

Tusculum, which advanced to the SAC Tournament championship game last year, tied for second with Brevard with identical 10-6 conference records. Both teams split their regular-season series, but TC won the tie-breaker by going 1-1 against top-seeded Catawba, while BC lost both meetings with the Indians.

Brevard is the third seed as the Tornados (18-9, 10-6 SAC) are participating in their first Food Lion SAC Tournament.

Mars Hill College is the fifth seed as the Lions (10-9, 5-6 SAC) will travel to No. 4 Lincoln Memorial University (19-8, 9-7 SAC). On Friday, it was decided that Mars Hill will nullify its first eight conference games after it was determined that one of its men's basketball student-athletes was deemed ineligible for participating in organized competition prior to his initial collegiate enrollment. Specifically, per NCAA Division II bylaws, a student-athlete must serve an academic year of residence upon enrollment at any Division II institution if they compete in organized competition that occurs subsequent to the date of their high school class graduation and prior to their initial collegiate enrollment. Mars Hill withheld the individual from competition for the remainder of the season and continues to work with the NCAA and the SAC office to seek reinstatement for the student-athlete.

Newberry, Carson-Newman College and Lenoir-Rhyne University finished in a three-way for seventh place with 5-11 conference records. Carson-Newman and Newberry earned the final two berths per the conference's tie-breaking process.

In the head-to-head comparison, Carson-Newman was 3-1 against Lenoir-Rhyne and Newberry and earned the seventh seed. Newberry and Lenoir-Rhyne split their head-to-head matchup. Both teams split against top-seed Catawba, and both were 0-2 against second-seed Tusculum and third-seed Brevard. Newberry was 1-1 against fourth-seed Mars Hill, while Lenoir-Rhyne was 0-2, including Saturday's season-ending 80-62 loss to the Lions.

Tickets for Wednesday's quarterfinal games are $6 for adults, $3 for children, students and college students with ID. Tickets for semifinal and championship rounds are $10 for adults and $5 for children, students and college students with ID.

The winner of the SAC Tournament will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament.

- SAC -

Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Quarterfinals-Campus Sites
No. 8 Newberry at No. 1 Catawba, 7 p.m.
No. 6 Wingate at No. 3 Brevard, 7 p.m.
No. 5 Mars Hill at No. 4 Lincoln Memorial, 7 p.m.
No. 7 Carson-Newman at No. 2 Tusculum, 8 p.m.

Saturday, March 6, 2010
Semifinals-CVCC Arena, Hickory, N.C.
Newberry/Catawba winner vs. Lincoln Memorial/Mars Hill winner, Noon
Carson-Newman/Tusculum winner vs. Wingate/Brevard winner, 2:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 7, 2010
Championship-CVCC Arena, Hickory, N.C.
Semifinal winners, 2 p.m.