UWA men up to fifth in region

INDIANAPOLIS – The third week of NCAA Division II South Region rankings were released today with the West Alabama men’s basketball team improving two spots to fifth place.

West Alabama (17-9, 14-6 Gulf South Conference) defeated North Alabama, 88-82 to drop the Lions to the sixth seed. The victory for the Tigers was followed by an 83-79 overtime win over Union.

Florida Southern, ranked 16th nationally, retained the top spot in the South Region for the third consecutive week. Delta State remained in the No. 2 region spot, followed by Saint Leo and Barry.

Fort Valley State, Tampa and Rollins sit in seventh, eighth and ninth place respectively, while Tuskegee fell from eighth to 10th.

The top eight in the regional rankings make the NCAA tournament, though it is possible for a lower regionally-ranked team to qualify if an automatic berth is won by a team outside of the top eight. The automatic berths are granted to the champions of the three conference tournaments in the South Region – the GSC, the Sunshine State Conference, and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.