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Samford Will Face Troy State in A-Sun First Round
March 2, 2003 The Atlantic Sun Conference released the brackets and game times for the Atlantic Sun Men's Basketball Champions to be held at the GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, March 6-8. The Bulldogs (13-14, 9-7 A-Sun) will be the No. 6 seed by virtue of their third place finish in the North Division. Samford will face Troy State (23-5, 14-2 A-Sun) in the first round on Thursday night at 8:15 p.m. ET. The Trojans are the No. 3 seed despite winning a share of the Atlantic Sun Regular Season Championship with Mercer. Mercer was awarded the top seed in the tournament because of a tiebreaker. Mercer and Troy State split during the regular season but Mercer swept third place UCF while Troy State had a 1-1 record against the Golden Knights giving Mercer the top seed. North Division champion Belmont is the No. 2 seed dropping the Trojans to the No. 3 seed. Troy State defeated Samford 66-48 in Troy, on January 26. Turnovers were the story of that game as the Trojans forced 23 Bulldog turnovers. 10 of Samford's 16 baskets in the game were three-pointers. Troy State made 14 of their 24 baskets from beyond the three-point arc. Samford and Troy State are the conferences top three-point shooting teams and both schools rank in the top 10 in the nation in made 3-pointers per game. Troy State's 66 points in the Samford game were the second fewest the Trojans scored during the A-Sun season. They were held to 61 points in a loss to UCF. TSU averages 80.8 points per game this season. Samford leads the A-Sun in scoring defense giving up 65.3 points per game. The Bulldogs lead the Atlantic Sun in three-point field goal percentage and are second in overall field goal percentage and in free throw percentage. Troy State led the conference in rebounding while Samford led the league in rebounding defense. Jon Mills scored 15 points against Troy State in the first meeting while Tyson Dorsey scored 12 points and J. Robert Merritt had 10 points. Cornell Felton added a career-best 10 rebounds in the first game. Ben Fletcher scored 15 points on 5-13 shooting from three-point range and three other Trojans had nine points. Top-seeded Mercer will play the No. 8 seed Jacksonville at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday. No. 2 seed Belmont will face the tournament host and No. 7 seed Georgia State at 6 p.m. ET. The tournament tips-off with No. 4 seeded Jacksonville State playing the No. 5 seed UCF at Noon ET. Tickets for the tournament are still available at the Samford ticket office at (205) 726-2050 or at the Georgia State Sports Arena (404) 651-3166. Tickets are $15 per session or $50 for the entire tournament. 2003 Atlantic Sun Tournament Schedule
Thursday, March 6
Friday, March 7
Saturday, March 8
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