Mercer has top seed for Southern Conference tournament

Mercer won the Southern Conference regular-season championship for the second straight season and has the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament, which will be played Tuesday-Sunday in Greenville, South Carolina.

The Bears are 35-21 after going 16-8 in the regular season in conference play. They will open the tournament Wednesday against the winner of Tuesday’s game between The Citadel and VMI. The Bears took two of three from the Bulldogs and the Keydets during the regular season as they won seven of their eight conference series.

Mercer won the conference tournament last year on its way to its third NCAA Tournament trip.

Here is the complete schedule:

Tuesday

Game 1: The Citadel vs. VMI, 10 a.m.

Wednesday

Game 2: Furman vs. ETSU. 9 a.m.

Game 3: Mercer vs. Game 1 winner, 12:30 p.m.

Game 4: Western Carolina vs. Wofford, 4 p.m.

Game 5: UNCG vs. Samford, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday

Game 6: Game 2 loser vs. Game 3 loser, 9 a.m.

Game 7: Game 4 loser vs. Game 5 loser, 12:30 p.m.

Game 8: Game 5 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 4 p.m.

Game 9: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 7:30 p.m.

Friday

Game 10: Game 6 winner vs. Game 9 loser, 3:30 p.m.

Game 11: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 loser, 7 p.m.

Saturday

Game 12: Game 8 winner vs. Game 9 winner, Noon

Game 13: Game 10 winner vs. Game 11 winner, 3:30 p.m.

Game 14: Game 13 winner vs. Game 12 loser, 7 p.m.

Sunday

Game 15: Game 12 winner vs. Game 14 winner, 1 p.m.

Game 16: Game 15 winner vs. Game 15 loser, 60 minutes after Game 15 (if necessary)

This story was originally published May 22, 2016 at 8:50 AM with the headline "Mercer has top seed for Southern Conference tournament."