Feb. 27, 2005
ORLANDO - After winning a share of its first conference regular season title, the UCF men's basketball team is seeded second in the 2005 SunTrust Banks Atlantic Sun Championship and will play No. 7 Mercer on Thursday afternoon. Tip off at the Curb Event Center in Nashville, Tenn. is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. Eastern.
The Golden Knights (21-8, 13-7 A-Sun) have won nine of their last 10 games and concluded the season tied with Gardner-Webb on top of the league standings. The two teams split the season series, but Gardner-Webb earned the tiebreaker for the top seed in the tournament by sweeping third-place Belmont. UCF split with the Bruins.
During the regular season, UCF and Mercer met twice, with each squad winning on their home floor. The teams most recently met in Orlando on Feb. 17. Behind 22 points from sophomore Josh Peppers, the Golden Knights claimed a 79-65 victory.
The UCF-Mercer winner will face the winner of No. 3 Belmont/No. 6 Georgia State game in the semifinals on Friday.
The two evening contests on Thursday and both semifinal games will be aired live on CSS. The title game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
All Golden Knight contests will be aired on the UCF ISP Sports Network and its flagship station, 740-THE TEAM (AM). Marc Daniels will provide the play-by-play.
2005 SunTrust Banks A-Sun Championship
Thursday, March 3 - Quarterfinals
1 p.m. No. 1 Gardner-Webb vs. No. 8 Troy
3:15 p.m.* No. 2 UCF vs. No. 7 Mercer
7 p.m. No. 3 Belmont vs. No. 6 Georgia State
9:15 p.m.* No. 4 Jacksonville vs. No. 5 Lipscomb
Friday, March 4 - Semifinals
7 p.m. Winner Gardner-Webb/Troy vs. Winner of Jacksonville/Lipscomb
9:15 p.m.* Winner Belmont/Georgia State vs. Winner of UCF/Mercer
Saturday, March 5 - Championship
2 p.m. Semifinal winners (ESPN2)
*games will start 30 minutes after the conclusion of the previous contest
All times Eastern