Top two seeds enter familiar site needing two wins to advance

The Southland Conference returns Wednesday to the center of its 13-university world, or at least the center closest to its largest number of league alumni.

The eight-team SLC basketball tournament is back in Katy for an 11th consecutive year, and in the Houston area for a 12th straight season.

“The city of Katy and the Merrell Center have proven excellent hosts and partners,” SLC commissioner Tom Burnett said.

The men’s portion begins at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the Leonard E. Merrell Center, with No. 5 seed New Orleans facing No. 8 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Wednesday’s nightcap pits No. 6 seed Lamar vs. No. 7 seed seed Central Arkansas.

Fourth-seeded Sam Houston State will face the winner of Wednesday’s first game at 5 p.m. Thursday, and No. 3 seed Stephen F. Austin State will take on the winner of Wednesday’s second game at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

The league tournament heavily rewards the top two seeds, who don’t play until Friday evening, and they need only two victories to snag the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Top seed Southeastern Louisiana and No. 2 seed Nicholls will each face the two teams left standing from Wednesday and Thursday’s action.

The championship game will be played at 8 p.m. Saturday.

A year ago, New Orleans, the top seed, defeated No. 2 seed Corpus Christi in overtime to advance to its first NCAA Tournament since 1996. The Privateers then lost 67-66 to Mount St. Mary’s in the First Four of the NCAA postseason.

The women’s side of the tournament begins Thursday morning at 11 a.m., and top-seeded Lamar and No. 2 seed Stephen F. Austin don’t play their respective opponents until Saturday afternoon.

The women’s title game is set for noon on Sunday. Central Arkansas has won two consecutive SLC women’s tournaments and is seeded third this time around.