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SAINT MARY-OF-THE-WOODS, Ind. -- The Saint Mary-of-the-Woods men's basketball team has earned the No. 2 seed for the River States Conference Tournament and will host No. 7 seeded IU-Southeast in a quarterfinal home game on Wednesday Feb. 28 at 7:30 pm. 

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods compiled a 23-5 record and a 17-1 conference mark to place 2nd in the River States Conference point system standings that are used to set the tournament field.  The point system is designed to provide balance to the unbalanced conference schedule caused by the presence of an East and West Division.

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods will host a River States Conference men's basketball tournament game for the first time in program history on Wednesday night.  The Pomeroys finished 23-5 overall in the regular season under head coach Jesse McClung after being picked to finish last in the RSC in the preseason league coaches poll.  The third-year SMWC men's basketball program had previously compiled 10 wins in 2022-23 and three wins in the inaugural 2021-22 season.

The River States Conference earns two automatic bids to the NAIA National Tournament.  The regular season top seed - Point Park - has secured one of the league's automatic bids.  The second bid will go to the RSC Tournament champion.  If Point Park wins the tournament, the second automatic bid will be earned by the team that competes against Point Park in the RSC Tournament Championship Game.

The full bracket for the 2024 RSC Men's Basketball Tournament is below.

2024 RSC MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT BRACKET:

MONDAY FEB. 26
(7) Indiana Southeast 80, (10) Midway 70
(9) Indiana East 78, (8) Rio Grande 76

WEDNESDAY FEB. 28
(9) Indiana East at (1) Point Park, 7 pm
(5) IU-Kokomo at (4) West Virginia Tech, 7 pm
(6) Ohio Christian at (3) Shawnee State, 7:30 pm
(7) Indiana Southeast at (2) Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, 7:30 pm

SATURDAY MARCH 2 - hosted by highest remaining seeds in each matchup after Wednesday
West Virginia Tech/IU-Kokomo winner vs. Point Park/IU East winner, TBA
Shawnee State/Ohio Christian winner vs. Saint Mary-of-the-Woods/IU-Southeast winner, TBA

TUESDAY MARCH 5 - hosted by highest remaining seed after Saturday matchups
Semifinal winners, TBA

SMWC MEN'S BASKETBALL NOTES:
* SMWC is enjoying its best season as an NAIA member in its third year as a men's basketball program.  SMWC stands 23-5 this year and finished the regular season 17-1 in RSC play under first-year head coach Jesse McClung.  The previous two seasons of River States Conference basketball ended at 10-17 (5-13 RSC) in 2022-23 and 3-26 (0-18 in RSC)  in 2021-22.  Saint Mary-of-the-Woods was originally picked to finish last in the RSC preseason coaches poll.
* SMWC enters today's game on a 9-game winning streak.  The Pomeroys are 17-1 in their last 18 games.
* Cobie Barnes has set the SMWC career school record with 640 points this season.  The 4-time RSC Player of the Week ranks No. 7 nationally in the NAIA in scoring at 23.7 points per game.
* Barnes has reached double figures scoring in all 28 games this season, with a career-high 35 points.  Barnes has surpassed 20 points in a game 21 times this season, including four games with more than 30 points.
* Shon Tupuola has set a career school record with 333 rebounds this season (12.3 rebounds per game) to rank No. 3 nationally in the NAIA.  Tupuola also leads SMWC with a 68.1% field goal percentage and has a career school record 56 blocked shots.  Tupupla also has 10 double-doubles this season.
* Chaz Birchfield (11.6 ppg) and Greg Jenkins (11.0 ppg) are also double-figure scorers for the Pomeroys.  
* Jenkins leads the Pomeroys in assists (103) and also ranks in the NAIA national top 30 in steals (54).
* Greg Johnson completes the usual starting five and contributes 7.7 points per game with 52 assists and 26 steals.  Johnson also shoots 89.1% on the free throw line this season.
* Tarik Dixon ranks No 2 on the team with 46 three-point field goals and averages 8.0 points per game as the team's sixth man.  Dixon also shoots 90.9% from the free throw line this season. 
* DaMeriz Merriweather adds 7.6 points and 3.7 rebounds per game and has contributed 42 assists and 27 steals.
* Current career statistical leaders for SMWC include:
            Points - Cobie Barnes (640 school record); Tarik Dixon 544
            Rebounds - Shon Tupuola (333 school record); Cobie Barnes 192
            Assists - Greg Jenkins 103 (#2 in school history); Tarik Dixon 79
            Blocks - Shon Tupuola 56 (school record); Dakota Sampson 40
            Steals - Greg Jenkins 54 (school record)

OPPONENT MEN'S BASKETBALL NOTES:
* Indiana University-Southeast (14-14, advanced to the RSC Tournament Quarterfinals with an 80-70 win over Midway University on Monday night.
* Jacobi Hendricks is the leading scorer in the RSC and No. 4 in the NAIA with an average of 28.1 points per game.  Hendricks scored 29 points with 10 assists and 7 rebounds in Monday's win over Midway.
* Lane Lauderbaugh is another double figure scorer for the Grenadiers at 17.1 points per game.  J.J. Reed pitches in with 11.8 points per game.
* IU-Southeast (14-14, 8-10 RSC) as won its last 3 games entering the RSC Quarterfinals.  The Grenadiers have two wins over Midway and a 91-54 win over Miami-Middletown during the winning streak.