College teams set for conference tournaments

Staff report

Bethany College and Thomas More College have earned the top seeds for the Presidents’ Athletic Conference basketball tournaments, which will be contested this week.

League champions will also be decided in the Ohio Athletic Conference and North Coast Athletic Conference.

In the OAC, the Mount Union women’s team (24-1) earned a bye to the semifinals and will be the host team on Thursday night, and again on Saturday.

The Mount Union men’s team (11-14, 7-11 OAC) plays at Ohio Northern (12-13, 8-10) tonight in a first-round tournament game.

John Carroll (18-6, 13-5) is the No. 1 seed for the OAC men’s tournament, and Capital (16-9, 13-5) is the No. 2 seed.

Bethany (22-3, 14-2 PAC) is the top seed in the men’s tournament. The Bison will play host to the winner of tonight’s game between Waynesburg (4-21, 1-15 PAC) and Westminster (6-19, 4-12) on Tuesday.

The other quarterfinals match No. 7 seed Washington & Jefferson (8-17, 4-12) at No. 2 Thiel (16-7, 13-3); No. 6 Geneva (6-19, 5-11) at No. 3 Thomas More (19-7, 13-3), and No. 5 Grove City (11-13, 7-9) and No. 4 Saint Vincent (18-7, 11-5).

The semifinals will be played Thursday with the highest remaining seed hosting the championship game on Saturday night.

Thomas More (21-4, 17-1 PAC) won the women’s regular-season championship and will host as long as the Saints win.

Thomas More hosts Grove City (7-18, 6-12) in a first-round game on Tuesday. Also, No. 2 Saint Vincent (20-5, 15-3) hosts No. 7 Washington & Jefferson (12-13, 7-11), while No. 3 Waynesburg (19-6, 14-4) hosts No. 6 Thiel (8-17, 8-10), and No. 4 Bethany (15-10, 11-7) hosts No. 5 Westminster (9-15, 9-9). Only the top eight teams in the conference standings advanced to the tournament.

The semifinals are Friday night with the title game on Saturday.

Hiram’s men’s and women’s teams qualified for the North Coast Athletic Conference tournaments, which begin on Tuesday.

The Hiram men’s team (14-11, 7-9 NCAC), seeded No. 6, visits No. 3 seed Ohio Wesleyan (19-6, 11-5)at 7:30 p.m.

Hiram’s women’s team (9-16, 5-11) is also the No. 6 seed and will play at No. 3 seed Kenyon (18-7, 11-5) on Tuesday.

The NCAC semifinals are all on Friday night, with the championship games scheduled for Saturday.