Road Games, Postseason for TAMIU Teams

Texas A&M International University's men's and women's basketball teams will complete the 2004-05 regular season by playing three road games in five days, beginning with a Thursday night doubleheader at Texas Wesleyan.

After that, TAMIU's hoops teams will play doubleheaders at Paul Quinn College on Saturday and Southwestern Assemblies (SAGU) on Monday.

Both teams have secured Red River Athletic Conference postseason tournament berths in only their second season of competition. The eight-team RRAC men's and women's postseason tournaments will be hosted by Southwestern Assemblies on Mar. 3-5 in Waxahachie.

First round games on the men's side will be held at Waxahachie High School with the women's first round games scheduled for Southwestern Assemblies' gym. The semifinal and championship round on both sides will be held at SAGU.

TAMIU's women enter the final three games in fifth place in the conference standings with a 12-7 mark, one half game behind fourth place UT-Permian Basin (13-7 RRAC) and one and a half games ahead of fifth place Huston-Tillotson (11-9 RRAC).

The Dustdevils (15-12 overall) could finish anywhere from third to sixth in the regular season standings but will most likely end up with a fourth or fifth place finish. That would likely match them up with UT-Permian Basin in the RRAC postseason tournament quarterfinal round. TAMIU and UTPB have split two games this season, with TAMIU winning, 87-63, in Laredo and UTPB winning, 81-77, in Odessa.

The Dustdevil men are also in fifth place in the RRAC standings with an 11-8 conference mark. That places TAMIU (12-15 overall) one game behind fourth place Texas Wesleyan (12-7 RRAC) and one and a half games ahead of sixth place Southwestern Assemblies (10-10 RRAC).

Like the women, the TAMIU men could finish anywhere from third to sixth place in the regular season race depending on the outcome of the next three games. Also, like the women, the Dustdevil men most likely will finish in either fourth or fifth place. TAMIU would have to win out and Texas College(13-7 RRAC) would have to lose its final two games for the Dustdevils to finish in third place.