2006 C-USA Men's Basketball Championship presented by Aeropostale - Day One

One upset in the books, the second one is brewing in Memphis

	Mildon Ambres

March 8, 2006

One upset is already in the books at the 2006 Conference USA Men's Basketball Championship presented by Aeropostale and Southern Miss is trying to pull of the second one as the 11th-seeded Golden Eagles lead sixth-seeded Tulsa 31-30 in game two at the FedExForum. Forward Mildon Ambres leads Southern Miss with 10 points, while Tulsa guard Chris Wallace leads all scorers with 12 points. The Golden Eagles led 29-20 before Tulsa closed out the half on a 10-2 run.

Game 1: (10) SMU 61, (7) Rice 59
Devon Pearson and Donatas Rackauskas scored 15 points each to lead SMU to a 61-59 victory over Rice in the opening round of the Conference USA Tournament Wednesday.

The Mustangs (13-15) will face No. 24 UAB, the tournament's No. 2 seed, on Thursday.

Bryan Hopkins, SMU's leading scorer, was held scoreless for the first time this season after missing all seven of his shots, but he grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds and had six assists.

Morris Almond, a C-USA first team all-conference selection, led the Rice (12-16) with 28 points on 12-of-17 shooting and hit three of his four shots outside the arc. His 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left cut the SMU lead to the final two-point margin.

J.R. Harrison added 13 for Owls.

SMU led throughout the second half, but never by more than six points.

The two teams were tied at 46 when the Rice's Cory Pflieger connected for his only points of the game on a 3-pointer with 6:26 left in the game. Pearson helped the Mustangs pull away down the stretch with a streak of eight points.

Evening action gets underway at 6 p.m. when No. 8 seed Tulane battles No. 9 Marshall and the first round concludes when No. 5 UCF plays No. 12 East Carolina.

2006 CONFERENCE USA CHAMPIONSHIP
Presented by Aeropostale
FedExForum, Memphis, Tenn.

First Round, Wednesday, March 8
(10) SMU 61, (7) Rice 59
(6) Tulsa vs. (11) Southern Miss        2:30p
(8) Tulane vs. (9) Marshall             6:00p
(5) UCF vs. (12) East Carolina          8:30p

Quarterfinals, Thursday, March 9
SMU vs. (2) UAB                         Noon
6/11 Winner vs. (3) UTEP                2:30p
8/9 Winner vs. (1) Memphis              6:00p
5/12 Winner vs. (4) Houston             8:30p

Semifinals, Friday, March 10
Semifinal No. 1 (Top Remaining Seed)    3:30p
Semifinal No. 2                         6:00p

Saturday, March 11
Championship Game                       10:35a

All Times Central