Heartland Conference Tournament Central Page: http://heartlandsports.org/tournaments/?id=68
SEU Full Tournament Game Notes: http://gohilltoppers.com/documents/2018/3/1/03_02_18_HC_Tourney.pdf
 
TULSA, Okla. – St. Edward's University's men's basketball team carries the No. 6 seed heading into the eight-team Heartland Conference Tournament, which begins Thursday with two games before the Hilltoppers square off against No. 3 seed, Newman, Friday at 5 p.m. The league's postseason tournament, in its 16^th season, is held at Tulsa, Okla.'s Union Multipurpose Activity Center.
 
The Hilltoppers are making their ninth appearance in the postseason tournament, including four consecutive trips under head coach Andre Cook. SEU won back-to-back tournament championships to automatically qualify for the NCAA Tournament in 2006 and 2007.

As underdogs, to achieve their first title in 11 years the Hilltoppers will have to knock off Newman in the quarterfinals where the winner of No. 2 UAFS and No. 7 Oklahoma Christian will await Saturday at 5 p.m.

On the other side of the bracket is No. 1 Dallas Baptist is facing No. 8 Texas A&M-International Thursday at 5 p.m., and the winner of that contest will face the winner of No. 4 Lubbock Christian and No. 5 Rogers State (Friday, Noon) in a semi-finals matchup Saturday at Noon.
 
The Heartland Conference champion will be determined Sunday at Noon and the winner earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Newman defeated SEU both times this season in home-and-home matchups with two-point victories in each contest. The Hilltoppers are 13-10 all-time vs. the Hillcats and 9-9 in the Cook era. The two teams have never faced one another in the postseason.
 
THEY SAID IT
SEU Head Coach Andre Cook on the Hilltoppers' mentality heading into the tournament …
"As the regular season ended, I think we're finally playing a little bit better. We went through a little funk there losing four in a row. But, our last loss against Dallas Baptist, I thought we were coming out of it, snapping out of it. We changed a few things about how we're playing. And, then I thought we played well for the most part against [Texas A&M]-International, and maybe played our best game of the month against Lubbock Christian. So, our guys are feeling better about themselves and how we're playing. And, now headed into the playoffs it's one and done. We're playing Newman, and Newman's beat us twice. I told our guys that just because that old adage says that it's tough to beat a good team three times, they can still beat us three times. We need to focus on Newman and figure out how we're going to be two points better."
 
SEU TOURNAMENT NOTES
Heartland Conference Tournament Appearances:
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
Heartland Conference Tournament Titles:
2006, 2007
SEU's All-Time HC Tourney Record:
7-6
 
• St. Edward's is making its ninth appearance at the Heartland Conference Basketball Tournament, including four-straight appearances.
• SEU carries an all-time record of 7-6 in the conference's postseason tournament.
• The Hilltoppers won the Heartland Conference Tournament Championship in back-to-back seasons in 2006 and 2007.
• Against the current tournament field (Dallas Baptist, UAFS, Newman, Lubbock Christian, Rogers State, Oklahoma Christian, Texas A&M-International) SEU is 3-2 in Heartland Conference Tournament contests (2-0 vs. DBU, 1-0 vs. TAMIU, 0-2 vs. UAFS).
• Against its quarterfinals opponent, Newman, SEU is 13-10 all-time, 9-9 in the Andre Cook era, and 0-2 in 2017-18.
• The Hilltoppers' last win in the conference tournament came March 4, 2016, a quarterfinals win over Texas A&M-International (84-69).
• SEAN WATKINS is the most experienced postseason player for SEU with four games under his belt averaging 5.3 points, 3.3 assists and 1.0 steals. JAMES TAYLOR (2.7 ppg) and CORY MCKENDREE (6.0 points, 4.7 rebounds) have each played three games. LANDON GOESLING, LUCAS DORIA and MATTHEW PATERSON all made appeances in last year's loss to UAFS in the quarterfinals.