FAU Keeps Title Hopes Alive; Tournament Seeds Begin to Take Shape
Date Posted: 2/25/2006
Only the top two seeds and regular season title remain in the balance heading into the A-Sun's final two games on Sunday.
Lipscomb and Belmont have a chance to grab their first A-Sun regular season titles with Lipscomb claiming the top-seed in next week's championship unless Belmont knocks off ETSU and the Bisons are upset by reeling Kennesaw State.
In Saturday's play, FAU sowed up the #3 seed while red-hot Stetson extended their winning streak to eight straight games and Campbell's last minute rally carried them to a season finale victory.
Florida Atlantic closed the regular season on a four-game winning streak and will have to wait until tomorrow's Belmont-ETSU and Lipscomb-Kennesaw State results to see if their title hopes will be realized. The Owls are locked into the third seed regardless of the outcomes, but could share the regular season title with a pair of losses by the co-leaders. Behind Rodney Webb's 20 points, FAU finished conference play with a 14-6 mark after defeating Jacksonville 85-76 on Saturday afternoon. The team's conference record is their best since joining the A-Sun.
Stetson completed the greatest in-season turnaround in conference history with an impressive 77-65 win over Gardner-Webb. After standing 2-8 and in ninth place in the league standings at the halfway point, the Hatters won nine of 10 games in the second half to finish 11-9. No team in the A-Sun is hotter than the Hatters who enter the championship on an eight-game winning streak.
Ruell Pringle's fast-break lay-up with 1.6 seconds remaining helped Campbell erase a late five-point deficit and finish 9-11 in league play just a year after going winless.
