First came the regular-season championship. Then the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament championship.

For their next trick, Southern Polytechnic's second-ranked Runnin' Hornets hope to bring home an NAIA Division I national championship.
The Eagles (31-3) stayed in the hunt Saturday, beating Faulkner 87-74 in the SSAC men's basketball tournament title game on their home court in Marietta. It was their final tuneup before the NAIA national tournament, which is set for March 16-22 in Kansas City, Mo.

"What an accomplishment on our team's part," Southern Poly coach Mike Helfer said. "To win both championships is extremely hard to do."

The top-seeded Runnin' Hornets, bounced from last year's conference tournament by the No. 8 seed, had no such problem this time around against No. 6 seed Faulkner (19-14), which upset No. 2 North Georgia and No. 3 Georgia Southwestern on its way to the final.

"Our games against Faulkner have always been battles; this game was no different," said Helfer, whose team beat No. 8 Southern Wesleyan and No. 5 Berry to reach the championship game. "Both teams came to play."

Faulkner coach Jim Sanderson pleaded with his team to slow it down against the appropriately named Runnin' Hornets — a strategy that worked for a while.

Faulkner battled back from an 11-point halftime deficit to take a 54-53 lead with 10 minutes left. Lamar Karim broke a 60-60 tie with 6:07 to go, and the Runnin' Hornets never looked back.

"I felt if we just played our game, it would take a toll on them," Helfer said.

Troy Sledge, who scored 11 points, earned tournament MVP honors and was one of five Southern Poly players in double fgures. Karim scored 15, Derris Marshall and Tabius Tate 14 apiece, and Chris Jackson 12. Jackson added nine assists.

Faulkner was led by Jon Uriarte's 22 points.

Pairings for the NAIA Division I national tournament will be announced Wednesday. With only one team ranked ahead of them in last week's poll — West Virginia's Mountain State — the Runnin' Eagles are expected to be among the top seeds.

 

By ANDREW B. ADLER
For the Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/06/05