YSU men open at Loyola on Tuesday
The YSU women's team will play at UW-Green Bay on Thursday.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- A new season begins this week for the Youngstown State men's and women's basketball teams as the Horizon League tournaments get under way.
The YSU men's team (7-20), the No. 9 seed, will be in action Tuesday night when they take to the road to meet Loyola University at the Gentile Center in Chicago.
The Penguins just dropped an 87-84 overtime loss to the Ramblers Saturday night at the Beeghly Center. The two teams split their regular season games, with YSU winning in Chicago, 84-76, on Jan. 2.Tip-off is 8 p.m.
Women open Thursday
The YSU women's team won't be in action until Thursday night after posting a 60-54 victory over Loyola and moving into the No. 7 seed.
The Penguins (8-19) will visit No. 3 seed UW-Green Bay Thursday at 8 p.m. at the Phoenix Sports Center.
YSU has lost a pair of games to the Phoenix this season, 74-49 at home and 81-69 in Green Bay.
But the Penguins have won at Green Bay and recently, winning 60-56 last season against the then No. 23-ranked Phoenix, snapping their 25-game home winning streak.
The Penguins have been designated as the host school for the women's semifinal and final rounds, scheduled for March 5-6, but in order to host those games the Penguins must first win the quarterfinal-round game.
If YSU doesn't win Thursday the semifinals and finals will be held at the highest remaining seed.
First round begins Wednesday
The women's first-round action will begin Wednesday night when No. 5 seed Detroit visits No. 4 Butler at 7 p.m.
Besides the YSU-Green Bay game, the other Thursday contests are No. 1 seed UW-Milwaukee playing host to the winner of the Loyola-Cleveland State contest at 8 p.m. and No. 6 seed Wright State at No. 3 seed UIC, also at 8 p.m.
In the men's final standings five teams all finished with 8-8 league records to share the No. 3 spot and the league had to use a tie-breaker system to determine the seedings.
Top two get byes
UW-Milwaukee won the regular season title with a 12-4 mark, while Butler took the No. 2 seed at 11-5. Both those teams will get byes in the tournament until the semifinals.
UW-Green Bay won the tie-breakers to get the No. 3 seed and earn a bye to the quarterfinals on Friday.
Loyola, by virtue of its win over YSU on Saturday, earned the No. 4 seed. The other Tuesday contests are No. 5 seed Detroit entertaining No. 8 seed Cleveland State at 7 p.m. and No. 6 seed UIC playing host to No. 7 seed Wright State at 8 p.m.
mollica@vindy.com