March 16, 2008

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The 2008 Southland Conference regular-season champion Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks will face Massachusetts in the opening round of the National Invitational Tournament, ESPN announced Sunday evening. The Lumberjacks will be facing a UMass team that recorded a 21-10 overall record and finished third in the Atlantic 10.

The game against the Minutemen is slated to begin Tuesday at 5 p.m. and will be televised on ESPNU. Should SFA advance to the second round of the tournament, it will face the winner of the Florida State vs. Akron game. The Lumberjacks enter the tournament as the No. 7 seed in their eight-team section of the 32-squad bracket. Massachusetts is the No. 2 seed. Florida State goes into the tournament as the No. 3 seed, and Akron is the No. 6 team.

The Lumberjacks enter the NIT with a 26-5 overall record after going 1-1 and bowing out in the semifinals of last week's SLC Tournament. SFA is making its first appearance in the NIT since the 1987 tournament, when the Lumberjacks knocked off James Madison, 70-63, in the first round before falling to Arkansas-Little Rock, 54-48. SFA won the Gulf Star Conference championship that season, marking the last conference title for a Lumberjack squad until this season's SLC championship run.

SFA's 26-5 record is the best mark for a Lumberjack team since the program joined the NCAA Division I ranks in the 1986-87 season. The 26 wins rank fourth on the school's all-time list for single-season victories at any level of competition.

-SFA-